Outbreak
by jaredplaidalecki
Summary: An overnight stay at the airport quickly turns deadly. When a lethal virus sweeps the nation, Annabeth and Percy must team up with each other to survive the outbreak.
1. Annabeth I

**Hey guys! So I've decided to start a chapter story, which is exciting! I've had the idea to do an apocalyptic-type story for quite a while now, but I was on the fence about posting it due to it being somewhat of a cliché. If you think I should continue, then let me know!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, or the brands I mention in this chapter. The cover art isn't mine either (thanks Google).**

* * *

 _Annabeth_

It was 3:00 in the morning when the screaming started. The shrieking bounced harshly off of the high ceilings of the airport, cutting through the warm, peaceful night. I jerked up from the seats I was sprawled across, swinging my backpack over my shoulder, and squinting up the hallway.

I didn't intend on spending my Wednesday in an airport. My flight had been drastically delayed, and since I'd already checked out of the hotel, I had to stay the night.

I had been sleeping on the uncomfortable plastic-y chairs in the gate of my flight. It was not an ideal situation, but I made do. I took a cautious step forward, intending to investigate the noise. Clearly something was amiss.

I looked back at my gate. I wasn't the only one staying the night. Due to a freak blizzard, all flights to and from New York had been cancelled, or delayed. The other people who were sleeping around me had obviously heard the shrieking as well, and had awoken from their nap.

I looked back up the hallway again, wincing at the ear-splitting screams. What the hell was going on?

All of a sudden, the shouting stopped. The airport was deadly silent. I moved from my gate, and crept out, down the corridor. I kept waiting for the screaming to begin again, but it never came. I think that made the atmosphere even more unsettling. I rounded the corner, passing a Starbucks as I went. From my estimate, this is where the noise should have come from, but the space was empty.

I looked around, not quite sure what I was expecting. I know I didn't dream the noise-others had heard it too, and had woken up, as I had. I walked slowly to the large windows, staring out at the motionless plane beyond the glass. Snow covered everything, blurring it all together into a white haze.

"You heard it too?"

I startled at the voice. It was a guy, about my age. He was tall and lean, with wild dark hair and eyes the color of the sea. He was almost unnaturally attractive. I swallowed, and refocused my attention to a spot beside his head.

"Hard not to." I took a step toward him, nervously tucking a stray blonde curl behind my right ear. "Annabeth." I offered my hand for him to shake.

He gave me a half smile, and shook my hand. "Percy."

Percy glanced over his shoulder. "Not sure about you, but his place is giving me the creeps. Seriously. What was that?"

I had no idea, so I decided to think about it logically. "Well it could have been anything, really. Maybe somebody was playing a trick on their friend, and they screamed. Its' so big in here, the scream would have easily echoed quite a distance." The more I thought it out, the better I felt.

"Or," Percy said, clearly unconvinced, "someone was crying for help." He deepened his voice at that bit, as if he were trying to frighten me.

I rolled my eyes. "Well I don't see any signs of a struggle, Sherlock." I crossed my arms. "It's late. I think exhaustion and our imaginations are getting the best of us."

As if on cue, he yawned. "Yeah, you're right. If I want to be awake enough to remember to catch my flight, I should get back to sleep."

I laughed. "Me too. I'd better head back," I said. Regardless of my deducing, I found myself glancing once more to make sure I hadn't missed anything the first time. "Nice meeting you."

"And you." I smiled, and turned to start walking back to my gate. I hugged myself as I walked back down the hallway. For some reason, I couldn't shake the sense that something was just not right.

I looked out the large windows, staring at the dark planes as I went. I sighed. Hopefully I would be out of here soon. I hated feeling so unsettled.

I arrived back at the collection of seats where I had slept, but didn't lay back down again. I sat in the chair next to a small table, laying my bag upon it. I couldn't sleep. In fact, I had my eyes wide open, scanning up and down the hall. I kept hearing the scream echoing in my head, filling the eerie quiet of the airport.

I thought back to this morning. My flight was due to leave at 11am, which was perfect, because then I would have been home just in time for my brother's birthday. Unfortunately, due to the delay, I had missed that by a mile. I was excited to be home again, but at the same time, I wanted to stay in New York a little bit longer. Studying abroad had always been something I dreamed of doing, and when I finally got to go, I was ecstatic. New York was nothing like San Francisco. As much as I loved my city, during my stay here, I almost felt like New York was where I was supposed to be.

I stretched my legs out in front of me. I knew I wanted to sleep, but my body was still keeping me alert. I twisted onto my side.

This was ridiculous. There was nothing wrong. It was all in my head. Still, I willed myself to stay awake. Despite my head telling me I was crazy, I always listened to my instincts. And they were saying that something was just not right.

* * *

I awoke to an aching pain in my neck. I didn't remember falling asleep, but I must have been out for quite a while. The sun was high in the sky, and all the people previously slumbering around me had disappeared.

 _Crap._ What time was it! I unzipped my backpack, searching hurriedly through the front pouch for my phone. I pulled it out, and turned it on. 12:48. Oh my god. My plane boarded in 2 minutes! I rushed over to the kiosk, but found no one there. I turned around, and read the current flight status board.

New York to San Francisco…cancelled. Awesome. I went and sat back down, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. Now what? I could barely keep my eyes open, despite my impromptu nap, so I decided to get a cup of coffee before mulling over this disaster any further.

I took my backpack, and headed for the nearest source of caffeine. I remembered passing a Starbucks on my way to investigate the noise, so I set out in that direction.

As I neared the coffee shop, I frowned. The airport was so quiet. There were barely any people in the halls. Usually, the terminal was filled with a constant stream of people, but not today. The seats were empty, and the shops were barren. I swallowed, and held my backpack straps a little tighter.

I was the only person at Starbucks, save for the girl working there. I walked up to the cash and placed my order.

"Pretty dead here, today, huh?" I said to the worker. She was pretty, and looked to be of Native American heritage. Her hair fell in a braid down her back, with feathers sticking out of it every so often. I read her nametag. _Piper._

"Yeah." She said. I thought I heard a slight tremor in her voice, but she didn't seem nervous, so I blamed it on my exhaustion. Before I could say anything else, she turned and began making my coffee.

I stood over by the pick-up area, leaning against the high counter. I looked out across the hall, at the large floor-to-ceiling windows. I knew I saw a plane there yesterday. They must have moved it, if all flights out of New York were cancelled. I was still peering out of the glass curiously, when someone tapped on my shoulder.

"Fancy meeting you here." I turned around, and flashed a half smile. Percy grinned back at me, and stuck his hands in his pockets. He glanced around, then waiting a beat before cutting straight to the point. "Hey, uh, you haven't happened to notice the lack of people here, have you? Or have I just gone crazy?" He let out a nervous laugh.

"No, I have too. This place is like a ghost town. Its creepy, actually." I looked back across the hallway, half expecting something to jump out at us. "And now since my flight is cancelled, I have no idea where to go." I blew out a breath, and closed my eyes for a second.

Percy took his hands out of his pockets, and adjusted his bag. "I hear you. I'm stuck here now, too. I figured I wouldn't need a hotel room, but no way am I staying another night here. That was awful."

"Agreed."

"Grande caramel macchiato?" Piper held my coffee out to me, and smiled. She turned to Percy. "Can I get you anything?"

"No, I'm good, thanks." Percy said. Piper shrugged, and returned to her position at the cash register, as if she expected a line of people to arrive around the corner.

I raised a brow, slipping a sleeve onto my cup. "If you didn't want anything, then why are you here?"

He smiled. "I was walking by and happened to see some blonde girl that looked familiar, so I decided to check it out."

I laughed, rolling my eyes. "Well, this blonde is going to check out the other shops around here while she drinks this coffee, and decides what hotel room to book." I started walking in the direction of the stores.

"And I guess I'll just have to tag along, then." He said, moving to walk beside me.

We walked in silence for about two minutes, neither of us commenting on the eerie emptiness of the terminal. I breathed a sigh of relief when we came upon a small strip mall. At least that will bring back a little normalcy.

Only it didn't. We walked up to the first store-a small convenience type place that sold books and things-and the gate was closed across the large entrance. We moved on to the next shop, to find the same deal. Every store we came upon seemed to be closed, which was strange, because Starbucks was still open. The further we went, the larger the lump in my stomach grew.

"Something is definitely not right." I finished the last of my coffee, and threw it out in a nearby trashcan. We stood outside of _Hudson News,_ staring at the thick steel door covering the entryway.

"Yeah." Percy frowned, his thick, dark eyebrows pulling almost completely together. "Let's head back."

We started to head back to Starbucks again to ask Piper if she knew anything about the missing employees. I took a breath, clearing my head. I had to think logically about this. Maybe it was as simple as some obscure holiday that, coincidentally, all these shops had off. This was only one part of one terminal of the entire airport, after all.

I repeated this logic like a mantra in my head as we continued, but I couldn't get it to stick.

As we passed one of the gates, I took another look out of the window where I expected to see the plane I spotted on the way up. Only, it wasn't there. I swallowed, and then turned my head to face forward again.

We were almost jogging by the time we made it back, both of our nerves getting the better of us. I was glad Percy was here with me. I might not have known him at all, but with the airport so empty, having another person to talk to just made me feel less alone.

When I walked up to the cash, Piper wasn't there. I started to get a little more panicked. Where was she? Did she vanish or something just like everyone else? I could tell I was spinning out of control, because my thoughts kept getting less and less rational. I took a calming breath. "Piper? Are you there?"

The Starbucks employee came out from a back room behind the bar, retying her green apron. "Yeah. Sorry." She said sheepishly. "I had to check on something."

"Where is everyone? There are no workers in the shops, and no people in the terminal that I can see, in general. What's going on?" I demand. I didn't expect her to have any answers, and I felt a bit bad taking my frustration out on her. I heard Percy shift beside me.

Piper swallowed and tried to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear, to no avail. She took two careful glances around, then leaned over the counter, closer to us. "I was just on the phone with my dad," she whispered, "He said he couldn't say much over telephone, but that I need to get out of here. Something is going on, and its not good."

"What?" Percy asked. My heart started to beat faster.

"I don't know." She said. "Apparently everyone got the call to not come in to work this morning. That's where all the workers are. As for the people…" She shrugged. "I just don't know."

"Why are you telling us this? And how does your dad know what's going on?" I inquired. I didn't know this girl. For all I knew, she was trying to get a rise out of us. Or she was just crazy.

"Well you're the only people I've seen all day. And if something really is going on, I want to tell people-warn them. At least that's what I hope others would do for me, if they knew what was up." She leaned against the counter. "And my dad works with the CDC."

"The what?" Percy tilted his head.

"Center for Disease Control." I replied, my palms starting to sweat.

Percy swallowed. "So are we in quarantine or something? What the hell is on the go here? And why didn't you get a call?" He looked at Piper suspiciously.

"I probably did." She said. "But I stayed at my boyfriends' last night, and forgot to charge my phone before I went."

I nodded, slowly. "Well, whatever is going on, I strongly suggest we all get out of here. Now." I tied my ponytail tighter. I couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness. The longer I focused on it, the more the feeling turned into a single word, repeating in my head- _Escape!_

Piper untied her apron, and shut off the cash register. Then she disappeared into the back room.

"So what are you thinking?" Percy looked at me, and ran a hand through his tousled hair. It was a distracting motion, so I focused on his question.

"Honestly? I would usually think this was a hoax, or something small being blown way out if proportion. But there is something off about all of this. I can feel it. And my instincts have never led me wrong before." I think back to the day my mother left, and how I hadn't been surprised. I met Percy's eyes. "What about you?"

He laughed, but there was no humor in it. "I'm thinking I should stick with you."

Piper emerged from the back room, then, almost knocking down the _EMPLOYEE'S ONLY_ sign in her wake. She wore a purse, and had a black jacket tossed over her arm. "Let's go."

We started for the entrance of the airport. It was about a 10-minute walk from Starbucks.

We walked into security, and my stomach plummeted. I sensed Percy and Piper tense beside me.

"So something is definitely up, then?" Percy took a step into the void room. "If they don't even have security staff working, that must mean-"

"That the whole airport is shut down." I finished. I moved further into the space, taking small, cautious steps.

"Um. Yeah." Percy gave me an odd look, but I didn't stop to interpret it.

"But why wouldn't they announce that? It just doesn't make sense…"I murmured, mostly to myself.

"Let's just keep going. We're almost out of here." Percy said, walking to the doors in the back of the room. I followed him, with could Piper on my heels.

"Wait!" Piper put out a hand to stop our advance out of the security room. "What if…" She trails off, and I give her an encouraging nod. "What if we _can't_ get out? Like, if no one can come in, then wouldn't it make sense that no one could get out, too?"

I frowned. I had thought of that, but decided to deal with that problem if we had to face it. "Well we'll just have to find out." I had a sinking feeling that Piper was right, but we had to try regardless.

We had just exited security when an announcement sounded across the terminal, loud and stern.

"This airport is under quarantine. From this point forward, any persons to leave this facility will be placed under arrest. I repeat. This airport is under quarantine."

We all stopped dead in our tracks.

 _Quarantine._ There is something dangerous about that word. It implies the unknown, and is often associated with death. I didn't like it one bit.

I looked at Percy and Piper, drawing in ragged breaths. I hadn't even known them for 12 hours, and yet I felt like we were somehow in this together now. Whatever _this_ was. They looked back at me, and I could see in their eyes that they felt the same.

Slowly, silently, we walked to one of the gates, and sat down in the chairs. We didn't say anything when the doors to the entrance opened, and we didn't even move when men in HAZMAT suits walked over to us.

It was only when the men in the gear tried to stick needles in us that we started to scream.

 **So that's it for now! Hope you enjoyed!**


	2. Percy I

**Hey! Thanks for all the positive reviews on the first chapter! You guys are awesome :). My updates are probably going to slow down now since school has started again (ughhh). So expect more along the lines of once a week. Thanks again!**

 **Disclaimer: I in no way own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or its fantastic characters.**

* * *

 _Percy_

I've always associated waking up with a feeling of dread. Usually because school was to follow and I was never in the mood to go (who is ever in the mood to go to school, anyway?). But I always got up regardless, because mom threatened to stop making blueberry pancakes, and even though I'm known to be a risk taker, I NEVER risk blueberry pancakes (or any pancake, for that matter).

So waking up on cold concrete, surrounded by 50-odd strangers wasn't exactly at the top of my to-do list.

I sat up slowly, and flinched at a sharp pain in my neck. I brought a bruised fist up to where I'd been injected with who-knows-what. The past 24 hours certainly hadn't been kind to me, but being ambushed by a guy in a HAZMAT suit definitely topped it all.

"Annabeth? Piper?" I whispered into the darkness. I started feeling around the ground, hitting peoples' legs that were absolutely not either of my new friends.

How long had I been out? Long enough for the both of them to have woken up already? But where would they have gone after that? I had no idea where I was, or what I was doing there. This whole situation was shady. I almost expected a guy with a camera to jump out of the shadows and yell, "Gotcha!"

"Percy?" I heard Annabeth call faintly. It sounded like she was on the opposite side of the room. I checked my pockets for my phone, so I could use its flashlight, but had no luck. I cursed. They must have taken it on me.

"Yeah, hold on I'm coming!" I started crawling around the unconscious bodies. "Just keep talking, and I'll follow your voice."

"Why don't you just use your phone flashlight?" Annabeth asked. I veered right.

"They took our phones." I replied, pushing aside a rather heavy man sleeping in an attractive starfish position.

"Not mine." I heard her say. I looked up to see a bright light emanating in front of me. I shielded my eyes against the glaring brightness.

"What?" I said, probably angrier than I should have been, considering the circumstances. "So not fair."

"Oh boohoo." Annabeth faked-whined. "They likely only took yours to spite you. You _did_ punch that one guy-"

"He was attacking me! What did he expect!" I huffed, following the light.

"Alright, alright." I could hear the smile in her voice.

I flexed my right hand, wincing at the pain there. That guy totally deserved it. I decided to change the subject. "Have you seen Piper?"

"Yeah," Annabeth said, her voice closer this time. "She's still out, but she's right here next to me." I moved a couple of feet closer, and sat down in front of the flashlight, putting my hand up to cover it. Annabeth switched it off, and put her phone away.

"So. I think we both know the obvious question here." It was too dark to tell for sure, but I think Annabeth gave me a look.

"Yeah. You stay here with Piper. I'm going to go look around and check for any possible exits." Annabeth stood up, reaching for her phone again.

I stood up as well. "We'll both go. You can take the left side of the room; I'll take the right. It'll be faster that way, too."

"You don't have a way to see." She retorted, turning her light back on.

I bent down and picked up Piper's purse. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have been going through the personal belongings of a girl I just met, but again, these weren't normal circumstances. I picked her phone out of the front pouch, and flipped the flashlight app on.

Annabeth nodded at me. "Alright, let's go."

I turned Piper's phone to the floor, illuminating all of the sleeping people. I was careful not to step on anyone as I made my way to the far wall.

Since they went to the lengths of drugging and trapping us in here, I didn't expect the doors to be unlocked. There were no windows, either. "Find anything?" I called, scanning the bare wall.

"No," Annabeth said back. "I don't know, Percy. This really isn't looking good." There was a pause, and then she spoke again. "Yes!"

I covered my eyes as harsh white light filled the room. "While the light switch wasn't found in vain, it's not going to help us get out of here." I said, my eyes slowly adjusting to the change. I turned the flashlight off of Piper's phone.

Annabeth slipped her phone back into her pocket, and walked over to me. "I know. But it's a start."

I sighed, and was about to walk back over to Piper when something moved at my feet. I looked down to see someone sit up. He was short, with dark eyes and even darker curly hair. I moved to give him some more space.

He glanced up at me, then stood and held out his hand. "Sup. Leo Valdez." He offered me a half smile. I shook his hand and introduced myself.

"Percy." I replied. "So-"

"Nope. Don't know what's going on. But this is the first slumber party I've been invited to in years. So that's a plus." He flashed a grin.

I gave him a slow smile. I liked this guy. "Come on over with us. I'll introduce you to the gang."

"You have a gang?" He muttered. I just smirked and turned to walk back over to the girls.

Annabeth was sitting next to Piper, watching my exchange with Leo. She stood up when we arrived.

"Hey! I'm Leo." He said, bluntly.

Annabeth gave him a curt nod. "Annabeth."

Leo gestured toward Piper's sleeping form. "And this is…?"

"That's Piper." I said, squatting down to put her phone back in the pocket of her purse.

"Piper," Leo murmured to himself, nodding. "Okay. So how are we getting out of here, then?"

We all stared blankly at him. Obviously we needed leave this hellhole, but until we figured out where we were and how we even go there in the first place (or why, for that matter), then we couldn't even think about escaping.

Leo misread our silence, and started to bounce on his heels, nervously. "You guys _are_ planning to escape this crazy place…right?" He met my eyes.

"Duh." I said, shoving my hands into my pockets. "But before we form a plan, we need to know the basics."

"Like where we are, for instance." Annabeth said.

"Or why we're here." I started at the sound of Piper's voice. We all turned in her direction, to see her sitting up, retying her hair.

"Yeah," Annabeth said, making room for Piper to stand in our small huddle. "We're not getting anywhere unless we know what it is we're up against-if anything."

We all quieted for a moment, until Leo broke the silence. "Why are we the only ones up?" I followed his gaze to the rest of the slumbering space. "Shouldn't the drug they gave us have lasted the same amount of time on everybody?" I frowned.

"Well, it depends on the size of the person too," Annabeth explained. "For instance, a 50 pound child would be out for much longer than a 250 pound man." That made sense. But what didn't, was that the four of us were up. We were about in the middle of the pack. And yet, we were the only people not still suffering the effects of the drug.

Piper voiced my thought before I could. "But going by that logic, there are still people bigger than us in here. We're about average-shouldn't we have woken up sometime in the middle?"

I nod, and we all turn to Annabeth. She shakes her head in frustration. "I don't know, honestly. Any number of factors could account for this. Everyone else could have been given bigger doses, for example. It's the why that I can't puzzle out." She gave Leo a strange look. "When were you knocked out? Like, around what time?"

All our heads swivel in the new kids' direction. "Um, about 5 or 6 in the morning, I'd say." He said. "I was on my way to my terminal, when I read that my flight had been cancelled. So I turned around to go back home, when the psycho men in those big yellow suits came at me with a needle."

"That was about 7 hours before us." Annabeth said, her eyes falling onto Piper and me, calculating.

"Things just aren't adding up." Piper said, throwing her hands up in the air. "She sighed, and sat down.

"Exactly," Annabeth said, moving to sit down next to her. Leo and me followed suit. "Which is why we need to think."

More people started to wake up, then. They seemed to come out of it in no particular order. Annabeth groaned in frustration each time a new person awoke, and a new theory was tossed out the window (metaphorically speaking, of course).

"This isn't getting anywhere," I said, when there were only about 15 people still left unconscious. "Maybe we should-"

All of a sudden, a set of double doors opened. People in the yellow suits rushed in, carrying big bags. I looked at the others. No one seemed to know what to do. Around the room, others that had just woken up were staring at the new development in a stupor.

It was dead quiet as one of them removed the protective gear around their head. Underneath the garish ensemble was a man with graying hair, and sharp features. His eyes were the color of molten gold.

"Hello, everyone!" He gestured grandly to us, holding his arms out as if we were to run and embrace him. "I know what you're thinking." He smiled, trying to comfort us. All he succeeded in doing was creeping me out. I crossed my arms over my chest.

"You're all wondering what you're doing here, am I right?" Wow. Couldn't have figured that one out. "Well, I'm here to tell you. My name is Kronos, but you can all just call me Mr. K" Another eerie smile.

Leo and I shared a glance. I could tell he felt the same way about this guy that I did.

Kronos-Mr. K, whatever-walked over to the other side of the room, to stand on a chair that was tucked behind the bend in the wall. "There is a sickness going around. A virus that we are led to believe started in this very airport." He pointed at the ground to emphasize his point.

Leo spoke up. "So why have you trapped us all in this room? And how do we even know you're not lying? For all we know, you've just committed a mass kidnapping!" Leo crossed his arms, eyes sparkling with rage. He did have a fair point. I heard murmurs of agreement sweep across the room.

Mr. K ignored Leo altogether, and continued his speech. "It's fast. Once the bacteria is in the system of its victim, they have no chance of surviving."

"What happens to them? What does the virus do?" Annabeth called from beside me. Her eyes were narrowed. Leo and I weren't the only ones who didn't trust this guy.

"I'm getting to that, miss." Mr. K said irritably, with a quick glance in Annabeth's direction. "As I was saying," He went on, "There are two ways the virus manifests itself. Either it kills the subject right away, or," He paused for dramatic effect, looking around the room at all the terrified faces.

"Or, it turns us into something else, entirely." He let us fall into a moment of silence. What kind of crap was this? I didn't know what to believe. I stood up.

"So what? Are you trying to tell us this is the dawn of the apocalypse or something? Because I don't think I quite buy it. Where's your proof?" I leaned back, waiting for Mr. K to respond to me.

Annabeth, Piper and Leo stood at my sides. I held my head higher. Whatever was about to go down, it felt good to know that I wasn't in this mess alone.

The older man covered a sneer with yet another smile. "I think I'll just let you find out for yourselves, then." Mr. K started moving back toward the door, with his entourage of yellow-clad HAZMATs in tow.

We all watched him walk away, helpless in the fact that we were simply outgunned.

Just before he closed the door, Mr. K glanced over his shoulder. "You may want to check up on the rest of your fellow…inmates." He let out a cold laugh, no longer keeping up his friendly façade.

No one tried to run for the door as it shut behind him. It wouldn't have done any good. I turned to my friends, and we all looked at the floor to the 15 people left sleeping. I ran to the nearest one, a woman who appeared to be in her late thirties. I bent down onto my knees beside her.

"Hello?" I shook her shoulders lightly. I felt Annabeth kneel next to me, her curls tickling my neck.

I shook the woman again, harder this time. "Hello? Ma'am?" I looked at Annabeth. She was frowning and chewing on her lip. I saw someone take a step closer to me in my peripheral, and glanced up. Most people in the room were watching me. Piper and Leo were directly behind my back, with the rest of the room's occupants fanning out beyond them. I squared my shoulders under the eyes of all those strangers.

"Percy…" Annabeth whispered. I turned to see her hovered over the sleeping woman, two fingers placed on the side of her neck. I gulped. Annabeth met my eyes, and shook her head, letting her hand fall off of the lady and onto the ground beside her.

It was silent for a moment, as everyone processed this news. Then, chaos broke out. Family's searching for sleeping loved ones, friends looking for each other. All of the people who were not yet awake, were dead. I sat back on my heels.

"Oh my god." Piper was pacing in front of me. "This is crazy. We are trapped in the basement of an airport, with 15 _dead bodies_ and no way out." Her breaths started coming quicker. "We need to get out of here."

"Obviously," Annabeth said. Her eyes scanned the room. "But we need a plan. For some reason, this Mr. K guy is keeping us all hostage."

"What a douche." Leo said. "This is so effed up."

"How are you guys so calm!" Piper looked at us like we each had three heads. Honestly, I didn't know why I wasn't up there pacing with her. I was probably in shock, or something.

I looked at Annabeth. She was chewing on her lip again, watching everything in the room unfold.

"What are you thinking?" I asked her.

She turned her focus to me. Being under her gaze was like being examined under a microscope. She shook her head, as if to clear it.

"I just-"She sighed, and started again. "They have the entire airport blocked so we can't leave, right?" We all nodded. "Right. So why waste that security if they were just going to lock us down here instead? They must need us in here for something …"

"Yeah, but what?" The answer to my question came sooner than I would have liked.

Screams erupted from the left side of the room. Our heads all swiveled in that direction. A couple was kneeling next to one of the corpses. The woman who screamed was using her scarf to wipe frantically at her husband's face. I took a step closer to get a better look.

The man was bleeding from his eyes, his nose and his ears. It poured down his face in a constant stream. The blood soaked the front of both his shirt, and the woman's. What the hell is going on now?

"Help!" She called. Someone please help! I rushed over, the others hot on my heels.

"What happened? I asked once I got there, falling to my knees beside her. She had moved on to using her shirt to wipe up the mess, her scarf thrown on the floor in an oozing red heap at her feet.

"I don't know," she moaned. "One minute he was fine, and then this happened. And now he's not even responding!" I got a better look at the man's face. He seemed to be frozen, his eyes unseeing. I would have said he was dead, if it weren't for the obvious rise and fall of his chest indicating his breathing. I swallowed.

She brought the bottom half of her shirt up higher, the fabric brushing her arm and peeling off an old Band-Aid. "Please help." She whimpered.

"Yeah. Ok. Of course." I stuttered, moving into action. I'd never taken first aid, but I'm pretty sure this wasn't in the course, anyway. The man was still unmoving, and blood streamed from his face. It was like something out of a horror movie. I should have been paralyzed with fear, but adrenaline, and this fierce need to help them kept me moving.

I stripped my sweater off and balled it up. I decided that something more compact would help to soak up the blood, so I started to tie it together. I had just finished, and was ready to apply it to the man when I felt Annabeth's hand on my shoulder.

"Percy-" I looked up. The woman was staring straight ahead, blood pouring from her face. I backed up. This thing was spreading.

The others seemed to catch on too, moving as far away from the couple as possible. We joined them, backing into a corner. I could hear Annabeth speaking softly next to my ear, loud enough for the four of us to hear.

"That must be why we're down here. They knocked us out and then locked us in rooms so it could spread rampant, and die out." She breathed. "If the virus really did start here, then they want the place wiped of all the possibly infected. And what better way to do that than to lock us all in close quarters?" I swallowed. That was definitely not good.

"So does that mean we're going to get it?" Piper asked, her voice trembling.

I could feel Annabeth shaking her head. I kept my eyes trained on the couple bleeding out in the middle of the room. "I don't think so. It looks like you need to be in direct contact."

"But we touched that dead woman. Shouldn't we have it?" I said. I felt helpless. I hated it. Those two people were dying 5 feet from me, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. I felt numb-like this was some stupid nightmare that I would wake up from and laugh about the next morning. I clenched my jaw.

"I don't know, Percy." Annabeth sounded tired. "But it seems like we would have been suffering the consequences by now." We watched in a horrible silence as the man fell forward, to the ground, taking the lady with him. Together they lay there, with their chests rising and falling, slowly. And then, they didn't move at all.

I listened to the ragged breathing of the people huddled around me. At least it was over. The deafening silence ensued, until another scream cut through the crowd. I was shoved back as people scattered, leaving only a young girl in the corner, blood dripping from her face.

I looked at Annabeth, Piper and Leo. We took running steps toward the doors, trying futilely to open them.

More screaming. I looked back to see two more people with red running down their front.

"Is this thing airborne now?!" Piper's voice was shrill, loud even over the madness of the room.

"Who knows? We need to get out of here." Leo pounded on the door. "LET US OUT DAMN IT!"

The place was in a mass panic. People were dropping left and right, while the others were running around, shrieking. I closed my eyes for a second, breathing. This whole ordeal was surreal. It was like a disaster movie come to life. I opened my eyes again; watching as the population of the room quickly dwindled.

I think humans are made with a built-in security system. When under intense, stressful situations, the alarm is triggered, and we go into survival mode. That's what happened to me, then. I knew that whatever happened next, I needed to fight for my life. I also knew that I would fight for the lives of my newfound friends.

That's all if we made it out of this room, of course. I turned back to the set of double doors, and looked at each of them in turn. They nodded-we had all come to the same conclusion.

Leo beat harder on the doors.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed :)**


	3. Leo I

**Hey! So my (admittedly shameful) plan was to let this story sort of slowly fade into the distance until I forgot about it. But that didn't happen, and I've come into some inspiration so I've decided to continue with it yay! But none of you care about that. So on with the story.**

 **Disclaimer: I, in no way, own PJO. All rights go to Rick Riordan.**

* * *

 _Leo_

I have been in a tough spot more times than I can count. Multiple foster homes and an incapability to keep my mouth shut would do that. However, I cannot say I have ever been as severely screwed as I am now.

My fists are probably bruised from banging on the doors for so long-to no avail, of course. Piper and Annabeth finally convinced me the only thing I was doing was wasting my energy, so now I'm sitting here with my new friends, trying to form a realistic plan.

Allow me to elaborate. We are sitting in some sort of basement cellar, surrounded by dead bodies. What's worse, is we could become one of them any second. So you could say escape is pretty high on my list of priorities.

"What if we just rush the HAZMATs the next time they open the door?" Percy says. I see promise in the idea, but Annabeth shakes her head.

"No. There are too many of them. And even if we did manage to overpower them, then what? It would be a game of cat and mouse all over the airport." Annabeth sighs in frustration. She does that a lot.

Percy stretches his legs out. "Yeah. Crazy yellow cats armed with hypodermic needles."

I look around at the other occupants of the room. There are still a few others alive, but they have been keeping mostly to themselves. No one has gone near the dead since the bleeding woman incident, and it has been working so far. I don't think the virus is airborne, so we should be all right for now.

Percy goes to say something, and then follows my line of sight. He frowns. "So what are they waiting for, then?"

Piper rubs her eye. "Who?"

Percy looks at her. "The HAZMATs. They could have easily just killed us all in here. And most of us are dead now anyway. So what are they waiting for? For us to all go slowly insane?"

Annabeth chews on her lip. "What if they're using us as lab rats?"

I don't like the sound of that. "How do you mean?"

Annabeth looks at me. "Well, think about it. This virus has been out for, what? 10 hours?" She looks at Piper, who nods. "So its new. They probably don't know any more about it than we do. They're using us as a sort of experiment, to observe how the disease spreads and affects us. It makes sense."

Percy nods. "I bet there are cameras in here somewhere." He looks up, and I do too. I spot a small black device in the corner of the room. I nod towards it.

"There. In the corner."

Annabeth and Piper look over as well. "Do you think it has sound?" Piper whispers.

"I don't know," Annabeth says, clearly annoyed by having to repeat those words so often. "But let's assume it does, to be safe."

"Safe from what?" Percy asks.

Annabeth takes a moment to study him. I would be squirming under that gaze, but Percy looks at her, unflinchingly.

"I think that plan of yours might be more plausible than I first thought." She says.

Piper looks at her incredulously. "I'm sorry, but have you lost your mind?!" She exclaims. She glances nervously at the camera, and then lowers her voice. "It isn't going to work. And who knows when they'll be back again?"

Annabeth smiles slightly. "That's the best part. We get to decide when they come." Percy starts to smile slowly, and Piper silently mouths 'oh'. I, unfortunately, do not speak cryptic.

"I'm lost. How, exactly, do we control anything in this situation?" I ask.

Annabeth turns so her back is to the camera. "Well if they're waiting for us to die, then that's exactly what we'll show them. They can't observe the behavior of something that is no longer alive. So once we're all dead, they'll come running, to collect their data," she says, under her breath.

"What about the others?" Percy asks, nodding towards the 3 or 4 people huddled in different parts of the room. "If we don't get them on board, it won't work."

"Okay. You're right. We need to recruit the others and integrate them into the plan." Annabeth nods. "They should be up for it, considering it ends with their escape."

"But what about the cameras? If they see-or hear-us talking to the others, they'll know something is up." Piper says.

"We'll have to stage it to look unrelated to our mass 'death'." Annabeth replies.

I smile. "Leave it to me." Before they can protest, I get up on my feet and stagger toward a guy in the corner closest to us. He looks to be about 15, and of Asian descent. I make a show of walking toward him like a madman. I must look as unhinged as I'm aiming for, because he looks more terrified of me than the corpse 5 feet from him.

I open my mouth to say something crazy, but I must get a bit of stage fright, because nothing comes out except "ahhhhhh." The poor dude is inching away from me, backing up against the wall.

I stand next to him and start banging my fists against the wall (ouch), so hopefully the camera won't pick up my voice. Between seemingly random bursts of yelling, I whisper our plan under my breath. He seems to get the idea that this needs to be discreet, so he continues to shrink away, but I see him give me a small nod.

I hear a commotion behind me, and turn around. Percy has followed my lead and is pounding the wall next to an old woman, ducking his head so the camera can't see his lips moving as he tells the woman our plan under his breath.

I look over toward Piper and Annabeth. Piper almost gets up to join us, but Annabeth grabs her wrist. I don't want to be obvious, so I turn and look for the next person to talk to. I agree, though. It would be too suspicious if we all got up at once. It's better if they stay near the doors and pretend to be as frightened of us as everyone else.

Percy recruits a middle-aged man wearing a leopard print shirt, and I finish the rounds, speaking to an African-American girl of about 13.

Once I'm done explaining the plan, I hear a thud, and spin around. Percy has pretended to collapse on the spot. I do the same, making sure to lie very still. I hear someone cry out, and then feel a person shaking my shoulders. They hug my body close to them, as if mourning my loss, and then I hear them whisper in my ear. It's Piper.

"Okay, so in about 30 seconds, Annabeth and I are going to pretend to get contaminated and fall on either side of the doors, as if we were escaping. Once the HAZMATs come, we'll be hiding behind the doors, waiting to knock them out." She says, in a hurry.

I want to ask how they're going to manage that, but she is already gone, and I wouldn't have been able to say anything anyway.

The next 5 minutes are of the most excruciating of my life. Finally, _finally,_ I hear the doors open. There is a soft murmuring coming from the direction of the doors. I strain to hear.

"…it, then. Mr. K is going to want the bodies for testing." There is a small scuffle, and then I hear another voice.

"Well I'm not doing it. Go get Gerry."

"No one has heard from him. He's up and disappeared. Same with Casey and Heather."

"I don't blame them". He snorts.

"Well get on with it then. Mr. K isn't going to wait for-AGH". There is a loud crash, and I sneak a peek at the doors. Annabeth stands over one of the men, holding a cane. Piper is throwing shoes at the other guy. It distracts him long enough for Annabeth to knock him upside the head with her cane. He lands in a yellow heap next to his buddy.

"Come on!" She shouts. I jump to my feet, and run alongside Percy to the door. The others follow us.

Just before we leave, Annabeth stops and picks up the taser that one of the HAZMATs was carrying. I give her a strange look but she shrugs as if to say, _you never know._ We follow after the others

I slam the doors behind us and Piper switches the lock. Annabeth shoves her cane through the handles of the doors, for good measure. She grips the taser in her hand.

I give them a look. "What are the dead people going to do? Follow us?" As soon as I say it though, a knot forms in my stomach. Piper seems to sense my distress, and doesn't say anything. Instead, we all run in no particular direction except _away._

We all stop in the gate, and collapse in the seats for second, to catch our breath. The man in the leopard print shirt speaks up. "Brilliant plan. What happened to the second half of it, geniuses?"

Percy shoots him a look of disgust. "If you want to go back in there with the dead and diseased to form your own escape plan, be my guest."

The man doesn't even have the decency to look embarrassed. He snorts, and looks pointedly out the window.

"Okay," Annabeth says, pacing. "Next order of business is to find a way out of this airport."

Piper looks up, frowning. "Why were there only two HAZMATs? If they wanted to take away the bodies, shouldn't they have brought more back up?"

Percy nods. "They said something about others of their crew disappearing."

"They could have just left to save themselves." The girl I spoke with speaks up. She gives a small smile. "I'm Hazel, by the way."

"Welcome aboard. I'm Leo, and these are my friends Percy, Annabeth and Piper." I point to each of them in turn.

The guy waves awkwardly. "Frank."

The old woman stays silent.

"We don't have time for introductions! We need to get out of here," leopard print man says. He shoots us an annoyed glare. "But I am Dionysus, if you must know."

"Right. So, back to the plan." Annabeth says.

"Yes I do love speaking about imaginary things." Dionysus retorts.

Annabeth looks like she is about to strangle the man. I wouldn't be opposed to the idea.

"Look, we are all doing the best we can-" Annabeth starts, but is interrupted by Percy.

"Guys, I think you're going to want to see this." Percy is standing by the big window. He looks back at us gravely. We all run to the window.

There are a bunch of people milling around, which is strange as the airport was dead (excuse the pun) yesterday. I watch as people in security and air traffic control uniforms walk around the runway area.

Piper lights up. "Oh thank god. Maybe this nightmare is finally over."

Just as she says that, a man comes tearing over the pavement, running over the space where the plane would have been parked, had there been one. He looks around frantically, and I can see his relief even from up here. He stops running and begins to walk up to the nearest security guard.

The security guard turns slowly toward the man, who is now about 10 feet away. Then, suddenly, he begins to run. When I say run, I don't mean a casual jog, or even a vigorous sprint. His speed is, to put it simply, inhuman. The others notice the motion, and then they begin to run as well. All the people within 100 feet pounce on the newest man, and, well. The rest isn't pretty.

Hazel cries out, and turns away from the window.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" Piper is pacing, maniacally untying and retying her hair.

"So does this mean what I think it means?" Frank says, slowly turning away from the massacre at the window.

"The Apocalypse? The End of Days?" Percy helpfully suggests. He runs a hand shakily through his hair.

Annabeth is shaking her head. "This could just be an isolated incident. We don't know anything for sure. And the infected people down in the cell weren't violent."

"Unless the disease has mutated, somehow." This is the first intelligent thing Dionysus has said, yet.

The old woman stays quiet throughout this whole exchange. Poor thing, she must be traumatized.

"We need to get out of here." I say.

"Thanks Captain Obvious." Dionysus says. I shoot him a glare.

"Alright, alright." Annabeth is thinking out loud again. "So we need to leave this airport, that much is obvious. But we also need to find out more about this disease." She looks at Piper. "You said your dad works at the CDC?"

Piper nods. "My phone isn't working, though. So I can't contact him."

Everyone (except Percy, who just pouts), checks their phone. No service.

"How far is his work?" Percy asks Piper. "And would he still be there?"

Piper nods. "I think so. If this virus is as bad as we think, the CDC would be the safest place, so he wouldn't leave."

"Okay. How far is it?" Percy asks again.

"Um. About a half hour drive from here, maybe?" Piper nervously plays with the ends of her hair.

Annabeth is nodding again. "If we can find a car, we can get there. This is going to work," she sounds like she's trying to convince herself more than us. "It has to."

"I hate to break your bubble, Princess, but this airport is still under quarantine. Not to mention Mr. K running around, wherever he is." Dionysus crosses his arms over his beer gut.

Annabeth blows out a breath. "We'll just have to find a way out, then. And the last time we were up here, the airport wasn't in such a state of chaos. That could be beneficial for us." She frowns at him. "And don't call me Princess."

Percy shrugs, a small smile playing at his lips. "It's the hair."

Annabeth raises her eyebrows incredulously, but there is a faint blush on her cheeks. "What?"

"We don't have time for this." Hazel speaks up. "If we're going to survive, we need to be a cohesive group."

"Agreed." Frank comes to stand next to her.

Percy looks around. "The HAZMATs haven't come running yet. If they were watching the cameras, they would have seen us escape. Which means either they've escaped themselves, or they're already dead." A heavy silence fills the air.

We all know he's right. Our chances of escaping have increased, without the HAZMATs on our tail, but our chances of surviving have just dropped even further.

Percy looks around, and then gives a curt nod. "Let's go." He starts walking in the direction of the exit, and without having to say a word, we all follow.

We walk in silence for a few minutes, before anyone speaks.

Piper rubs her arms, as if to stave off a chill. "This is so crazy," she murmurs under her breath.

"Tell me about it." I say. I sigh in relief as I see the exit come into view. "Almost there." I say mostly to comfort myself.

The old woman speaks up for the first time. "Sorry honey, but I can't let you leave this airport quite yet." I only have time to glance at her in confusion before she has a hold of my arm. For a little old thing, she's very strong.

"What the hell, lady? Let go!" I yell.

Just as I'm about to say a few choice words to the woman, she begins to change. With my arm still in her grip, she switches forms. Or maybe she's always been this way and the old lady thing was just a disguise.

I see Hazel and Piper in my peripheral, staring with wide eyes.

I wince as the woman-the _thing's-_ fingernails turn into talons, and dig into my skin. Her back contorts, and huge leathery wings sprout from her back grotesquely.

I shit you not. _Wings._

Her hair recedes, and menacing teeth fill her papery lips. I must be in shock, because I haven't moved throughout her entire transformation.

I watch over her shoulder as Annabeth is pulling at the chairs of the gateway, looking for a loose one, I assume.

"Leo Valdezzz," the monster hisses, grabbing my attention again.

I try to yank my hand from hers but I only succeed in allowing the talons to cut deeper into my arm.

All of a sudden, she jerks forward. Percy stands behind her, holding a chair and looking very frazzled.

Her nasty claws are still stuck in me, and when she starts to beat her wings, lifting off the ground, she pulls me with her.

I frantically pull, but for some reason, the more I resist, the deeper her claws dig.

"Hey, ugly!" Percy runs at her (does he have a death wish?), throwing random things at her face, to distract her. She-he? It?-drops me, interested in new meat. Percy continues throwing things he finds around the gate at her, seemingly leading her somewhere.

Frank and Hazel join in, shielding Annabeth, who is bent over one of the end tables next to the chairs, fiddling with it. I glance a look at Percy. He doesn't seem to be in any immediate danger yet, so I run over to Annabeth to help with whatever she is doing. She looks up.

"Do you know how to unscrew a table leg without a screwdriver?" I don't bother asking why. I like to think of myself as a self-made handy man. I know my way around a repair shop. Relieved to be of use, I search my pockets for loose change. I find a quarter, and get to work loosening the table leg. It takes about 30 seconds, but it feels like 30 hours.

"Yes!" Annabeth exclaims. We both look over at the others. Hazel and Frank have run out of things to throw, and are looking on helplessly as Percy stands in front of the monster.

Because that's what it is, I guess. A monster. I shiver.

Piper is looking at Percy, using hand gestures, trying to communicate how she can help.

Dionysus is hiding behind chair. Remind me to kill him if we survive this.

Percy looks over at us. He raises his hands, and Annabeth throws the first table leg we unscrewed. She doesn't throw far enough for Percy to catch it, but Piper does, and she throws it to him.

The monster takes this exact second to dive toward Percy, clawed hands stretched, mouth open, and looking ready for dinner.

Percy takes the metal table leg and turns his back on the approaching thing (I will repeat. Does he have a death wish?), and I see the water fountain behind him for the first time.

He smashes the leg onto the fountain, and then jumps away, as highly pressurized water spews from it. The water hits the monster with enough force to knock it back.

During this exchange, Annabeth runs toward the monster. In its attempt to get away from the spray of the fountain, it has slowly begun to rise higher off the ground. Annabeth, seeing that the monster was out of her reach, thrusts the taser she took from the HAZMAT at Frank.

While it's still disorientated, Frank reaches up, having to jump a little, and uses the taser on the foot of the flying menace.

Annabeth looks around desperately. I feel the same. The taser probably won't do much good, but at this point, we are clean out of options.

Then, a sort of miracle happens. We all hold our breath, watching as the monster vibrates from the strength of the taser. It falls out of the air, still shaking, and hits the ground with a resounding thud. It lets out a horrible shriek, and then disintegrates into dust.

The only sound for the next few moments is the rushing water coming from the fountain.

"What," Percy begins, walking over to us, dripping in water, "the hell was that?"

Piper, in shock, comes around to stand next to him. "A brand new problem."

I have to agree.

 **I hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to leave comments! They make me happy**


	4. Piper I

**Hey guys! Again, thanks so much for the reviews and everything, they really do mean a lot to me** **J** **. I was on the fence about deciding the POV for this chapter, because I personally find Piper's voice a little harder to mimic. Let me know how I did!**

 **Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Uncle Rick**

* * *

 _Piper_

To say it's been a weird past 24 hours would be the understatement of the millennia. It all started when I decided to sleep over at my boyfriend, Jason's house. I had been fighting with my father about college, again, so I left without even bringing a charger for my phone. In doing so, I didn't get the message to not come into work. I am now paying dearly for that choice.

I stand next to Percy, who is dripping water from the broken fountain, all over the floor. We are all standing in a loose circle around the spsot where the monster had disappeared just moments ago.

I think back to this morning. The fight my father and I had was so stupid. We have been having a different version of the same argument for months, now. If that was the last time I saw him…my eyes fill with tears. I hope with everything I have that he, and Jason are all right.

The others are discussing the origins of the monster-lady. I try to focus on the conversation, to distract myself.

"Okay, but how did she know my name?" Leo asks, looking around nervously.

"You did introduce yourself to us in the basement. She probably heard it, then," Percy says, shrugging.

Leo shakes his head. "I don't know, man. It felt like she knew it before."

Dionysus throws his hands up, nearly smacking Frank in the face. He and Hazel take a step back. "Oh who cares how she knows your _name._ We have bigger things to worry about. Like where that thing came from and what it's doing here." He huffs.

Annabeth crouches down to the floor, examining the place where the monster had died. Or did it? Where do those things go, when they disappear? Because, wherever it was going, it didn't sound like it went willingly.

I look down at the spot where it disappeared. "Or where it went."

When the old lady began transforming into whatever _that_ was, I didn't know what to think. I thought I was hallucinating, because of the lack of sleep, or as a reaction from the drugs the HAZMATs gave me. That would have made sense. But this? This is nuts. I'm barely grasping the idea that the world as we know it could be ending with this mysterious, fatal disease. And now we have this madness to worry about on top of it all. I can barely wrap my head around it long enough to be shocked.

Percy speaks up, wringing out the ends of his blue sweater. "So…", he begins awkwardly, which I can understand. How does anyone react to that? What is there to say?

Luckily, he's saved from his speech, as Annabeth rises again, looking briefly at something in her hand. "I don't think this is related to the disease." She announces.

I hadn't even thought that the deadly virus and the monster could have anything to do with one another. It's a likely idea, and it makes the disease even more terrifying. But if they're not related, and this thing just existed in the world before…I don't know which is worse.

"How do you know?" Hazel asks Annabeth.

Annabeth looks at us. "I'm not 100% sure, but I think the most compelling evidence is that this lady, or whatever, existed before the outbreak," she holds up the item in her hand, which looks to be a passport. "So she was in the airport, before the virus. She got caught up in it the same as us."

"Unless she was planted there," Percy retorts. He has taken off his sweater, and is squeezing as much water from it as he can. Dionysus, who has moved into a spot next to him, takes a pointed step back.

"Of course she was put there on purpose," Dionysus says irritably. "What are you suggesting? That the monsters under your bed have always existed? Logically, this is part of the outbreak."

Annabeth nods reluctantly. "I see your point, but there are a few holes in your theory." She holds up the passport, and we all lean in for a closer look. "This came out of her jacket pocket as she was changing," she says.

Dionysus looks at it dubiously. "And why would that be proof?"

Annabeth flips open the passport, and points to a small stamp. "This is dated two weeks ago," she opens the book to another page, with an American stamp. "And this one is from a couple of days ago."

While I see what she's trying to say, there are still countless other factors to consider. "I don't know. Its possible, but with everything going on, we really can't be sure," I say.

I see some of the others nod. Percy finally gives up on his sweater, and lays it out on one of the seats at the gate. "So we need to find out what is happening. If that's the next stage of the disease…" he swallows, and runs a hand through his wet hair. "We need to get to the CDC." Percy turns to look at me. "And find your dad."

I couldn't agree more. But my reasons for finding my father in this mess are a little more selfish.

We walk toward the exit. I don't know what I expected when we walked through the doors. An alarm? Maybe an army of the people in the HAZMAT suits? But we pass through without so much as a break in our stride. I think that might be worse.

Leo looks over his shoulder as we enter the empty parking lot. "This is so creepy. Where are all the people?"

No one answers him as we walk toward my car in silence. Luckily, I took the SUV last night, so we all fit. I sit behind the wheel and stick the key in the ignition. Percy slips into the passenger seat, as Frank, Hazel and Annabeth take the middle seats. Leo mumbles something under his breath as he sits down in the back row, next to Dionysus.

I drive slowly through the parking lot, watching for anything out of the ordinary. Not seeing anything, I speed up and merge onto the freeway. Dad's work is about a half hour drive from here, in regular traffic. But today, the streets are empty. And combined with my growing anxiety to get to my father, we'll make it there in half the time.

Percy, who was staring out the window, turns back to face the console. "Alright. Can't have a road trip without music." He turns the volume dial way up. A Selena Gomez song blasts through the speakers.

I move my hand to change the station, but Percy covers the button. "Nope," he says. "This station came on, and this station it will be." He lowers his voice and looks dramatically out the window. "Fate has spoken." I roll my eyes.

Annabeth leans over, poking her head between Percy and I. "Do you even know this song?" She directs her question to Percy, yelling to be heard over the music.

Percy nods, feigning serious. "Of course. Allow me to demonstrate." He starts singing as loud as he can, using wild hand gestures and shaking his head so hard that water flings from his hair, into my face. In his defense, he even gets some of the words right.

I use the rearview mirror to check up on everyone in the back. Annabeth is trying not to laugh at Percy's ridiculous display, but failing miserably. Hazel covers her ears, laughing for the first time since I've met her. Frank smiles and leans back in his seat, closing his eyes. I look further into the back at Leo, who starts singing along with Percy. Even Dionysus has a small smile on his face.

I return my gaze to the road. There are no cars around, not another person in sight. It will take another 10 minutes to get to the CDC, so I decide to let loose for just a minute, while it lasts. If the situation is as bad as it looks, we may not get another moment like this.

I watch the road, listening to the laughter of my new friends. I try to memorize the sound of it.

* * *

When I pull up to the parking lot of dad's building, I'm not surprised to find it relatively empty. I scan the area and see my father's car parked in his usual spot. I breathe a sigh of relief.

"Dad's car is here," I say to everyone, nodding toward the black Audi parked near the front entrance.

"Okay, good. Maybe we'll finally get some answers." Annabeth says a little excitedly. Everyone agrees.

I pull into the spot next to dad, and unlock the side doors to let the rest of the gang out. We walk up to the front entrance and I press the buzzer. Usually, Margie's voice, the secretary, will come crackling over the speakers, but today they are silent. I play with the ends of my hair, picking at some of the split ends.

"Is anybody home?" Percy asks. Leo tries the door, and it opens. The unlocked front doors make me even more nervous.

We file into the lobby, Leo and myself in the lead. Margie, unsurprisingly, isn't sitting at her usual desk.

"I thought you said this place would be secure?" Percy says, staring at the empty reception desk.

I shake my head. "I thought it would be." It doesn't make much sense. If this disease is as serious as it seems, wouldn't it be smart to stay in a facility such as this one? At least my father is here. He'll know what to do. I start up the first flight of stairs, not trusting the elevator.

We all climb the stairs, with varying degrees of difficulty. I hear Dionysus complaining from the back. "Why couldn't we just ride the elevator?" He looks longingly over his shoulder at the elevator doors 3 flights below us.

"Because we don't know if they even work right now." Annabeth says, not even out of breath. "We have to stop living like we're used to. These are not normal circumstances, and we need to start reflecting that in our behavior."

Dionysus huffs, but doesn't disagree. I don't like the way Annabeth described the situation. It just feels so…permanent.

After an eternity, we reach the 8th floor. I expect to be able to open it, as we had with the front door, but when I turn the handle, it doesn't budge. I look up at the others, unsure. "It's not locked, but I can't get it open."

Percy gives it a try, to no avail. "Something is blocking it," he says. "Push it with me."

I place my hands flat against the door, and on three, Percy and I shove the door. It moves a little further, but not enough. Annabeth joins us and we try again.

This time, the door opens enough for a person to slip through. I practically run through it, now desperate to get to my father. Something bad must have happened for him to go to the trouble of securing the door on the 8th floor.

I can barely hear the others behind me, warning me to be careful. "Dad?" I call. I go to slip the light switch on. I am not surprised when the lab fills with light. The building has a backup generator that kicks in, to keep the fridges running to preserve their samples and research if the electricity goes out for whatever reason.

The lab is a mess. Tables are flipped on their side; beakers and other glassware are shattered on the ground. Most of the stools are lying on the ground in varying states of disaster. The door I came through has one of the tall cabinets shoved in front of it. But the scariest part is that my father is nowhere to be seen. I think back to his car, parked in the lot outside. He was here. When whatever chaos broke out here, he was in the thick of it. And if his car is still here…

My eyes fill with tears again, and this time I let them spill over. "Dad?" I whisper, though I don't expect an answer.

I feel a hand on my shoulder, and turn to see Hazel standing there, looking up at me with pity in her golden eyes. "I'm so sorry, Piper." She says. I look at the others, but I can't get a read on their faces; everything has gone blurry.

I think about the last time I saw him, remembering the terrible things I said. I start to cry even harder.

"This doesn't mean anything," I hear Leo say from somewhere to my right. "Maybe he escaped." He doesn't sound very convinced.

"Well we can't stay here," Percy says, walking over to where Leo stands. "It's clearly not safe."

"And where, exactly, should we go, then?" Dionysus says, hysteria rising in his voice. "We're all going to die!"

"Calm down!" Annabeth says sternly. "No one is dying. We're going to figure this out. So maybe we don't have Piper's father to help us. Okay. We still have this lab. There must be something here."

I wipe my eyes. Annabeth is right. We need to focus. And my father could still be out there, yet. We don't know anything for sure. I just don't know if I can do this without him.

"So is it like this all over the city?" Percy asks. I can tell he is thinking of his own family.

Everyone is silent, not wanting to think of the very real possibility. Before anyone answers, a small noise comes from the corner of the lab. I go on high alert, thinking about the old lady who turned into the monster. I feel the others tense around me.

"Hello?" Percy asks. "Anybody home?" He takes a tentative step in the direction of the noise, but Annabeth grabs the back of his shirt before he can get any further.

"We don't know what's over there," she whispers. "It could be whatever caused this mess." She gestures around the room.

"Or," Percy retorts, "it could be someone like us." He takes another step toward the corner, and this time, Annabeth lets him. I see the worry in her face mimicking my own. I may have only known Percy for a day, but under these circumstances, it feels as though we've been friends all my life.

I turn toward the corner and squint. Looking closer, I can see that someone is hiding behind one of the overturned tables. I see the toe of a shoe peeking out from the side.

"Hey, buddy," Percy is moving slowly toward the table, his hands raised. "We're not going to hurt you. I don't know what happened here, but we're on your side." He pauses for a second. "Unless of course, you're not on _our_ side. If that's the case, we may have a small problem."

I see Annabeth rubbing her forehead, as if she were trying to scrub away a headache.

I hold my breath as the figure starts to rise. He looks about 16, with dark hair and eyes, wearing all black. He looks up at us, and then swallows.

"Um. Hi," he steps out from behind the table. "I'm Nico." He looks up at the door, and the small sliver we had managed to push open. "Sorry about the door." He doesn't sound very sorry.

"Nah it's cool, man." Percy has put down his guard for the most part, though a small trace of tension still lingers in his voice. "So, what happened here?" He looks around the destroyed lab.

Nico shrugs. "I'm not entirely sure. It was like this when I got here. But if I were to guess, it was those…things."

"What were you doing here in the first place?" Annabeth asks, suspicious.

"My boyfriend is an intern here-he's doing his bachelor of science now. He was working at the lab hoping it would give him a leg up when he applies for med school. He called me and said to get to the lab immediately. Said it was an emergency." Nico looks at the remains of the lab, and then clenches his jaw. Whatever happened to his boyfriend probably happened to dad, too. I hope for both our sake that they're safe.

"So you saw them, too?" Leo asks.

Nico nods. "On my way here, the roads were empty. Then I saw some of those things on the side of the street. It wasn't pretty. Once I got here and saw the mess that the lab was in, I pieced together that is must have been them."

"So why were you hiding when we got in here, with the lights off?" Percy looks puzzled.

Nico shakes his head. "I only got here about 5 minutes before you guys. I hear footsteps on the stairs and panicked, thinking it was them, so I barred the door and hid. I need to know what they're capable of before I do anything." He crosses his arms, and I see he is holding a piece of paper in his hand.

I nod towards it. "What's that?"

Nico looks down to follow my gaze. "Oh, I'm not really sure. It's a note, left on the table when I got here. I thought it might have been from Will." He frowns, his eyebrows scrunching together in pain. "But it isn't. I only got about halfway through before I heard you guys coming."

I try not to run over and yank it from his hands. What if it's from my father?! If he were alive, which he must be, surely he would have left me a note so I would come looking for him.

"Well," Dionysus says irritably, "what does it say, kid?"

Nico shoots him a glare, but opens up the note and begins to read out loud.

"' _Piper,_

 _Jason and I are safe. I am so sorry, but we had to leave. Don't worry about us. Go to Long Island and find a man named Chiron. He will tell you everything. I'm sorry I have to be so cryptic, but this letter cannot fall into the wrong hands._

 _There are two things you need to know. Firstly, the disease is spread only through blood, so be careful whom you come into contact with. Although that won't be an issue for you directly, which brings me to the second thing: you are immune._

 _However, these things are bloodthirsty. You may not be able to contract the virus, but you can still be hurt by it, so be wary._

 _I love you. Please be safe, and I'll see you soon._

 _-Dad'"_

I nearly start crying again. My father is alive! And Jason. As long as they are safe, it'll be okay.

No one speaks for a moment, and then Annabeth is doing her thinking-out-loud thing again. "So the disease is only contracted through blood. That makes sense, actually. The woman in the basement was covered in her husband's blood, and she had a cut on her arm." I barely hear her. One line repeats itself in my head. _You are immune._

"What I don't understand," Annabeth continues, "is why you're immune." She looks at me.

I shake my head. "I don't know."

Frank speaks up for the first time. "Who is Chiron?"

Everyone is quiet, and it takes me a minute to realize that the question was directed at me. "Oh, I have no idea. I've never heard that name before." I look at my shoes; ashamed I can't even help find someone my own father is telling us to look for.

Percy is nodding beside me. "Okay. So this Chiron dude has all the answers, then. So we just need to get to Long Island and find him. Can't be too hard." He gives a lopsided smile, happy to finally have a solid plan.

"Except for the crazy people who want to eat us," Leo says, crossing his arms. "Don't forget about that bit."

Annabeth doesn't even seem to hear them, still trapped in her own world. "If Piper is immune, that could mean there are others like her."

"And what if she's the only one?" Dionysus says, with his usual level of optimism.

Annabeth smiles. "That's the other thing. She is also the key to finding a cure."

I shiver, thinking about my immunity to the disease. It was a relief at first, to know I couldn't catch the virus. But I don't think I can handle the responsibility that comes with it. It shouldn't have been me-the immunity should have manifested in someone who can actually _help_ people. I don't know how well I can do that.

Nico frowns. "A cure? How are we going to find that? We're in one of the highest security labs for disease control and there still isn't anyone around to help."

"If we find my father, he can help with that." I say. "If he's telling us to find this Chiron person, then that's most likely where he is."

"Okay, so I guess we're in for another road trip," Leo says, clapping his hands together. "I call shotgun this time. Percy has terrible taste in music."

"Hey!" Percy says, mocking offense, but his smile gives him away.

"Well you kids can go and get yourselves killed playing treasure hunt," Dionysus says. He crosses his arms over his beer gut, his leopard print shirt stretching to accommodate his new position. "I'm staying here, where it's at least relatively safe."

Percy turns to him, baffled. "What? No, you have to come with us. You heard what it said in the letter. If we find Chiron, we can figure this all out."

Dionysus shakes his head, determined. "Sorry kid, but no. I'm so not going anywhere with the lot of you."

"Dionysus-" Leo starts, but is interrupted by Nico.

"Guys, we need to make a decision." He gestures to the window and we look out to see a dozen of the monster-people gathering on the edges of the parking lot.

"Okay. Dionysus, we don't have time for this. Let's go!" Annabeth says, starting toward the door.

Dionysus moves, but not in the direction Annabeth is headed. He ducks behind the table Nico had emerged from. "I'm the only one with a brain here, so this is where I'm staying. Have fun dying."

I ball my hands in fists. "We're just trying to help you!"

"I don't want your help!"

Frank runs up to the door, and shouts over his shoulder. "We need to leave!"

Percy stands between the table that Dionysus huddles behind, and the door where Frank and Annabeth are waiting.

In a rare moment of kindness, Dionysus looks up and sees Percy's struggle. "Go, kid. I'll be all right. But if you all stay here, you won't be."

I had to agree. I don't like the thought of leaving him, but it's clear he isn't coming with us. We were only succeeding in wasting our time. I walk over to Annabeth and the others. Nico, Hazel and Leo have joined them at the door.

"Percy," Annabeth says, her voice soft.

Percy looks up, sorrow written across his features. Something in his face changes, and he looks back down at Dionysus. "Do you have a cell phone?"

Dionysus nods, handing a phone to Percy. He takes it, and after asking Annabeth for her phone number, adds the contact into the older man's phone. "In case the lines go up again…"

"Yeah, yeah. Now get out of here, Prissy. I'm trying to be inconspicuous here. Those things aren't going to wait forever."

With one last look in his direction, Percy walks back over to us. He sets his jaw, and stands next to Leo.

I take another look at the lab. The road that lies ahead is going to be dangerous. But I'm hopeful. My father is out there somewhere, with Jason. This Chiron guy apparently has all the answers. Above all, we might have cure-and that cure lies in my own DNA.

The lives of others could be depending on my choices. I steel myself for a fight, because I'm not just fighting to save myself, now. I'm fighting to save everyone I love, too. Whether or not I'm ready for it, I'll have to learn to take on that responsibility. I swallow down my hesitance.

"Let's go." Annabeth says, heading out the door. I make a conscious effort to hold my head up a little higher, and follow her out the door. I don't look back.

 **Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! How did I do with Piper? Was it terrible? Was it okay? Did you want to kill it with fire? Let me know in the comments so I can improve for next time!**


	5. Annabeth II

**Hi! Sorry if this one is a bit dull. I had planned what to write for this chapter, but it ended up being way too long so I've cut it into two. Thanks for stopping by!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or brands etc mentioned in this story. All PJO rights go to Uncle Rick.**

 _Annabeth_

I feel bad about leaving Dionysus there, I truly do. It was his choice to stay back, and I honestly hope he survived. However, I can't say I'm not entirely pleased that he's gone.

By the time we had gotten to the main floor of the building, the infected had mostly dispersed. We were able to climb back into Piper's car and begin the journey to Long Island.

Piper is driving, of course, and Leo sits shotgun. Frank and Hazel sit in the middle row, and Percy and I are in the very back with Nico.

I look up at the front and see Piper struggling to stay awake, which is fair. Being drugged doesn't equate to being well rested. I take a look around the vehicle. Half of us are falling asleep sitting up, while the rest, like me, are running on pure adrenaline.

"Hey Piper, I can take over, if you want to take a quick nap." I say, catching Piper's gaze in the rearview mirror.

She looks hesitant; her eyes darting back and forth between the road and I. "Are you sure? I can manage." Her confident statement is betrayed by the insecurity in her voice.

Frank shakes his head. "Who knows what we'll have to face once we get to Long Island? We should be well rested."

I nod. "Yeah, no one is going to be useful if they're tired. We'll take turns."

I can see that Piper wants to argue, but she yawns again and her exhaustion wins out, in the end. She nods. "Okay, you're right." She pulls off to the side of the road.

I get out, and Piper and I switch places. Once I'm in the driver's seat, I realize that I don't actually know how to get to Long Island. I would usually rely on my phone's GPS, but I don't have service. I turn to Leo, next to me. "Do you know how to get there?"

Leo shakes his head. "Sorry, I've never been."

Percy speaks up from the back row. "I know the way," I hear him moving out of the car. "I can be your GPS."

Leo sits in the back with Piper, and Percy slips into the spot beside me. I begin to pull back onto the road. I look into the rearview mirror, to address everyone.

"Okay, so Percy and I will take this shift, you guys can-" my announcement falls on deaf ears. Everyone has fallen asleep. I laugh to myself. "Alright then."

Percy smiles next to me. "It's about three hours from here. I'm not very tired. I can drive if you want to sleep."

"Thanks, but I'm not falling asleep anytime soon." I grip the wheel a little tighter, and scan the trees for any of the infected.

Percy follows my gaze. "Is it too much to hope we don't run into any of them on the way?"

"Probably."

It's silent for a moment, and I realize this is the first time since that morning in the airport when Percy and I have been alone. Suddenly, I'm nervous.

I try to make conversation. I don't know why I'm antsy all of a sudden. "So you've been to Long Island before, I take it?"

Percy turns away from the window to face me. "Yeah. My mom and I always vacation in Montauk in the summer." He runs a hand through his hair, which makes it stick up on end. "I hope she's alright. She has to be."

I keep my eyes on the road. I've never met my birth mother, and I haven't been particularly close with my stepmother. Sometimes I wish I could experience a mother-daughter like bond. I see it with my friends and their mothers all the time. I feel like I'm missing out on some crucial part of my life. By the way Percy speaks of his mother, I can tell they're close. For his sake, I hope she's safe, too.

Another moment of silence passes before Percy speaks up again. "So, what were you doing?" He pauses. "At the airport, I mean."

I glance at him. He's looking at me, his head titled a little, with a small lopsided smile. My best friend from home, Thalia, would call him "crazy hot". I try not to think about that.

"I was supposed to be visiting my family, back in San Francisco. I'm studying for a while, here in New York." I say, thinking of my father, brothers and even my stepmother. I may not be close with her, but I do hope she's all right, for my brothers' sake if nothing else.

Percy nods. "Cool. What are you studying?"

I can feel myself physically brightening. "Architecture." This is my absolute favorite subject to talk about. "I want to be an architect, designing things. But I also love to study it. Especially in Europe; the Parthenon, the Coliseum. So much history there." I catch myself before I actually sigh.

I sneak a look at Percy. He's no longer looking at me. He stares out the windshield, a smile still on his face.

I swallow and focus back on the road. Maybe I was a little too much. I barely know him. "Sorry, I just get a little passionate sometimes." I give a nervous laugh. Why does this guy have such strange affect on me? I straighten in my seat. "Which is a good quality to have, if I want to pursue a career in that field."

Percy shakes his head. "No, no don't be sorry." He turns back to me, again. "It's good that you love it so much. Most people don't have that. Besides," He shrugs. "I like listening to you talk about it." His eyes widen a little, like his own comment surprised him. He turns abruptly back to the window.

I ponder him for a minute. Despite initially thinking him slightly immature, Percy is actually pretty intelligent. I wonder what he's studying, or if he goes to college at all. I phrase my question as delicately as I can. "So, what are you studying?"

He smiles. "I want to be a marine biologist. So currently I'm working toward my bachelor of science."

"Oh." I'm not sure what I was expecting him to say, but it wasn't that. "How are you liking it so far?" I'm not usually one for small talk, but for reasons I can't explain, I actually like this. Getting to know Percy.

He nods. "It's good so far," he screws up his nose. "Although I'm not a fan of physics."

I laugh. "What? Not a math guy, hmm?"

He rolls his eyes. "No thanks. But it's not as bad as English." He frowns at that.

I couldn't agree more. Being dyslexic, English has always been a pain in my ass. "Same here."

He laughs. "Oh no? I'd pegged you as someone whose favorite subject is every subject." He leans back in his seat.

I mock offence. "Well I guess you don't know me as well a you'd thought."

His smile fades a little. "Yeah, I guess not."

I swallow, not sure where to go from there. Its no secret that we only met recently, but the thought of being on a road trip with a bunch of strangers in the middle of a disaster is enough to make me uneasy.

Before it gets too awkward, I hear someone snore loudly from the back. I glance in the rearview mirror and see that Leo, his face pressed against the window, is the culprit. I check up on the rest of our travel companions. When I was talking to Percy, I had completely forgotten about them. It was as if Percy and I were the only two in the car.

Hazel has her feet underneath her, curled up against the window. Frank sits exactly as he had been, his head titled onto his chest. Nico sits with his head stuck somewhere between his shoulder and the window. Piper is laying half on top of Leo, still snoring, whose face is up against the other window.

Percy laughs. "Heavy sleepers. They could probably sleep through an apocalypse."

I smile, but his joke brings me back to reality. I scan the trees again, but don't see anything. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing. We're going to run into those things eventually though. I think back to when we fought the winged monster. We barely made it out of that, with all of us together, and in the end it was the strange taser that did the trick. I bring my hand down to my hip, where I've hooked the taser to my belt, assuring myself that it's still there.

If we're going to have to fight again though, we'll need more than just one taser. I don't think guns are a good idea, for a multitude of reasons. But guns aren't the only weapons; we'll just have to get a little more creative. I turn to Percy. "Where is the nearest hardware store?"

This throws him. "Um. If you take the next exit, it should only be about a 15-minute detour." He smirks, which I've learned is the telltale sign that he's about to say something he thinks is funny. "Why? Is there an emergency renovation that I should know about?"

I sigh. "Well just based on the mathematical probability of it, we're going to come into contact with the infected again. And when we do, we need to be ready."

He frowns. "Okay, sure. But what does a hardware store have to do with it?"

"Weapons," I say, holding my head a little higher to compensate for the ridiculousness of the whole situation. "Hammers. Big kitchen knives. Maybe a baseball bat or two. Anything that can give us the edge we need to survive."

Percy looks at me dubiously. "Alright, Denzel, calm down." He steals a look out the window. "I get what you're saying, but if its weapons you're after, you should probably check the hunting supply store first." He smirks.

I shoot him a glare. I had thought of a hunting supply store, but I didn't know if we could easily find one so close to the city. "Is there one nearby?" I ask bitterly.

"Yeah, actually. I know of one. Take this exit, here." He nods toward the exit about 100 feet ahead of us, and I turn into that lane. I use my signal, out of habit, despite us being the only car on the highway.

"Wha-what? Where?" Leo splutters, jolting out of sleep, which effectively wakes Piper up as well. He looks around, and relaxes again. "Ah. Right. I was really hoping the whole apocalypse thing was just a nightmare."

Piper grumbles something unintelligible under her breath, wiping her eyes.

Percy looks over his shoulder into the back, giving them a toothy grin. "Morning. We're making a slight detour to the hunting supplies store."

Leo nods as if this is commonplace, but Piper frowns. "What?"

I explain it to them the same way I did for Percy, as they wake the others.

Piper nods. "Yeah, good idea."

Percy smiles. "Well you should have heard her first one. Weapon-searching at the American Home Hardware."

Nico snorts, a small smile playing at his lips. "So what, exactly, was the plan, there? Fighting them off with a paint roller?" I hear Percy make a choked sound next to me.

I try to give Nico a glare from the rearview mirror. "Well, that idea was crossed off for a reason. This is why it's beneficial to brainstorm." I say, saving face. "The bottom line is that we need something to use as a defense if, or when, they try to attack us."

Hazel looks troubled. "But…they're still people, aren't they? We can't just kill them all," she says, quietly.

An uneasy tension fills the vehicle.

"Well," I hear Percy say. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that." I see the others nod along.

I bite my tongue. The idea that we will only kill if absolutely necessary is a nice thought, but if we're fighting those things, I highly doubt there will be much of a choice.

I see commercial buildings nearby. "In here?" I ask Percy, gesturing to them.

"Yeah, it should be."

I see a sign above one of the buildings that reads Joe & Sons Hunting & Camping Necessities (charming), and assume this is the place Percy was talking about. I pull into the lot, snagging a spot right next to the doors.

"Alright, gang." Percy swings open his door, stepping out. "Let's go shopping."

* * *

Other than a minor mishap involving Frank and Leo and a fishing pole, the hunting store haul was fantastically uneventful. I wait by the cash registers for the others to finish browsing for their weapon. Nico and Hazel are already back, armed with a long hunting knife and a pair of butterfly knives, respectively.

I look down at my find. It's a dagger, not too long, not too short. It'll be easy to fight with, and allow me to get within close range. It also has a good balance; it's not so heavy that it will become a burden, but enough to be effective. I slip it back into the holster I had strapped around my waist.

I have also packed a bag filled with other things we may need that I found in the camping section. Water canteens, dried food packets, a flashlight, a blanket and a first aid kit. I sent Hazel and Nico back to fill bags for everyone with more supplies, as well.

Frank and Leo come around the corner, Frank sporting a crossbow over his shoulder, and Leo with a large switchblade. He also has an orange backpack slung across his back, hanging low with the weight of who-knows-what.

"Alright, we're just waiting on Percy and Piper, and then we can hit the road." I say, as they approach.

"Sounds good," Leo says, hitching his pack higher onto his shoulders.

I hear movement from behind the corner, and turn to see Percy and Piper emerge. They're laughing, presumably at something Percy said, judging from his knowing smirk. A spark of something ugly goes through me. I mentally shake myself; I have no reason to feel jealous. I've barely known him, and besides, he's just as close to Piper as he is with me. We're all friends. Sort of.

I make an effort to appear calm and neutral. "Hey guys. You ready?" I hold onto the straps of my backpack.

Percy nods, sheathing an even longer hunting knife than Nico's. Piper holds a small knife as well. I breathe a sigh of relief that no one picked a gun. I'm not in the mood for that argument right now.

"Alright," I say, turning toward the space Nico and Hazel dumped the packs they made up. "There is a backpack here, filled with supplies, for each of us."

Those who haven't already taken one step forward and pick up a backpack.

I walk out of the store, and back to the car, scanning the area for those things. I don't see any lurking about, so I go to open the driver's side door.

Piper stops me, her voice soft. "It's alright, Annabeth. I had my nap. It's your turn." I look at her. I know she didn't sleep for long, but I will admit she looks significantly better rested.

"No you only slept for, what? Half an hour?" I say. "I can take it from here."

Piper shakes her head. "I in-"

"AHHH!" We turn toward the scream. Hazel is on the ground, her butterfly knives out and flashing in the sun. Above her, stands one of the infected, a woman. Her face is full of dried blood, from where it poured out of her eyes, ears, mouth and nose. Her business suit is torn and blood-spattered.

Before any of us move, the infected woman lunges down, her slack jaw hinged open. Hazel looks conflicted, holding up her knife to protect herself. At the last second, she sets her jaw, and slashes upward, all but taking the infected woman's head clean off.

Its silent in the parking lot for a moment, as Hazel slowly stands. There are tears streaming down her face, and she holds her knives in a death grip.

"It's alright," Piper says, shocked. "You had no choice."

"Guys?" Percy says, taking out his own knife. "Zombie lady brought friends." I inwardly cringe at his use of the word zombie, but turn to follow his gaze.

There are about 10 of them, 150 feet out, and they're coming fast. I glance at the car. We won't make it. And even if we do manage to get in and drive away, I have a feeling these things will follow. I take out my dagger, and stand in a fighting stance.

"So we're doing this?!" Nico sounds panicked, which I suppose is fair.

"Afraid so," Leo says from beside him.

I take a quick glance around the parking lot, trying to form a plan. I see Frank in my peripheral, and eye his crossbow. "Frank, start shooting the ones on the far right and left!" I call. If we pick off the ones away from the main horde, we can focus on the masses without having to worry about them coming at us from the sides. They're getting closer, about 50 feet now.

Frank doesn't hesitate, and starts shooting them one by one. I impressed by his skill-he has clearly been trained in archery and knows his way around a crossbow. I take a few steps to the right. My dagger will be of no use if I face them head on. I need to have the upper hand. I quickly motion for Piper to mimic my position on the left. 25 feet.

Percy seems to understand. He steps into the middle, armed with his long knife, Nico close by. I feel Hazel and Leo moving from behind me. They are 10 feet away. Frank has already picked off about 4 of them. That leaves approximately a one-on-one ratio. Those odds will have to do.

I take two running steps forward, and slash my dagger across the neck of the infected closest to me. The second the blade goes in, a pit forms in my stomach. I have never taken a life before. I look into the eyes of the man I am killing, trying to memorize his face. This wasn't his fault. He is the victim. We all are.

He has brown eyes, or I assume they used to be brown before they became horribly bloodshot. He also has receding brown hair, and wears a pair of broken glasses. He could have been a father. I wonder if he was, and where his kids are.

He aggressively open and closes his jaw, his teeth gnashing together, jerking mouth in my direction. This snaps me out of my reverie. I slide my blade to the side, effectively decapitating the man.

I don't have time to feel sorry, before another one of them comes at me. I know what to do this time. I whip my dagger at its throat, as if in a trance. As if it's instinct. The second one goes down.

I hear labored breathing around me, and look up to see that all the infected have been killed. Or whatever. If they are already dead, is this considered murder? I decide to dwell on that when I'm running on more hours of sleep.

Nico slowly cleans dark blood from his blade, sheathing it. He swallows. "That isn't as cool as it is in the movies."

Leo laughs somewhat hysterically. "Yeah, no shit."

"Um, guys?" Hazel stands near the car, shaking.

I take a measured step in her direction. I feel the eyes of everyone else in the group on me. "Yeah?" I ask, quietly.

Hazel looks up at me, her golden eyes brimming with unshed tears. She lifts a blood-coated hand from her arm. Oh this is not good.

I look down, and see exactly what I feared. A small bite mark is visible, just below her elbow. How much time do we have? I think back to the first time I saw people turn. It took about…30 seconds. It was practically instantaneous. I meet Hazel's gaze.

"Did you just get this?" I ask.

She shakes her head. "Sort of. It was from that first woman that attacked me." I frown. That doesn't make any sense. She would have turned by now.

Percy voices my thoughts. "But that was almost 10 minutes ago. You should be one of them already."

We're all quiet for a moment before Frank speaks up. "Unless she's immune, too. I mean, we know it's possible." He looks pointedly at Piper, who shrinks back.

Hazel holds her head up. "It's okay. You guys can go, I'll just…I'll just stay here."

Percy is already shaking his head. "No. You would have turned by now. You must be immune. You're coming with us."

"But what if I'm not? What if I'm just a late bloomer or something?" Hazel asks.

I agree with Percy. Logically, the only explanation is that she is immune. Still, you can never be too careful.

"Well we know that the infected bleed right before they turn, or die." Percy says. "So if that happens, well. We'll know what to do." He swallows, and turns to face us. "Right?"

We all nod. Somehow, some way, we had become one cohesive group. Leaving behind someone even as awful as Dionysus, really took its toll. We will not be doing that again.

I take quick glance around, assessing their injuries. Mostly, they have superficial cuts and scrapes. I want to preserve any supplies I can for serious injuries. "Okay," I say, taking the first aid kit out of my pack. "Everyone back in the car. I'm just going to wrap Hazel's arm first."

I get to work cleaning her wound and then wrapping it. "You'll do it, won't you?" Hazel says softly. I look up at her, confused.

"Do what?" I ask, even though I know exactly what she's implying.

"What's necessary?"

I give a slight nod. I don't want to get her hopes up, just in case, but I really do believe that she is also immune to the disease.

"Thanks, Annabeth." She says.

We walk back to the car, and I go around to the driver's seat to find Piper sitting there again. For what it's worth, she looks ready to run a marathon, and I'm about to fall asleep standing up.

I might as well follow my own advice-I won't be much use if I'm unconscious in a fight-and slide open the side door to get in the back. I climb all the way to the back, next to Percy, who is out cold. Hazel slips in the middle row next to Leo and Nico. Frank sits up front this time.

I rest my head against the window and close my eyes as Piper pulls out of the lot. I try not to think about the life (or non-life) I took today, and focus on more positive things, like Hazel's probable immunity to the virus.

I'm just drifting into sleep as Leo and Nico discuss the fight.

"It's lucky that happened when it did", Nico says. "If the infected had caught us before we had these weapons…I don't know. It wouldn't have been pretty."

"Definitely." Leo replies. Then, more hesitantly, "Also, can we stop calling them that?"

"Calling them what?"

"'Infected'", Leo says. "We all know what they are. Crazy virus. Risen from the dead. A certain hunger for human flesh."

I hear Nico sigh. "You mean 'zombies'?"

"Hey, you said it, not me."

"Alright Valdez."

I think about that word. _Zombie._ They're supposed to be a thing of fiction. But there is no denying what we saw today, and yesterday. This is what the world has come to. Reduced to an apocalyptic wasteland, crawling with monsters, in a matter of days.

Damn. I'm supposed to be thinking happy thoughts.

I fall into a fitful sleep.

 **Hope you enjoyed! And as always, I love to hear what you thought, so leave a review if you like!**


	6. Percy II

**Hi! Sorry for the delay, I'm on vacation with my family right now, so I've been a little busier than usual haha. Loved your comments! You're all awesome, as always. Hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: All rights go to Uncle Rick.**

* * *

 _Percy_

I wake up from my nap to the sound of music playing softly through the car speakers. I stretch, and look around the vehicle. I'm the only person awake. Piper has parked the car on the side of the highway, in front of a sign that reads "Welcome to Long Island, Wine Country".

Or at least, I assume that's what it says. Having dyslexia, I usually got my mom to read the signs for me.

Annabeth is asleep next to me; her blonde curls falling over her face. I have the strangest urge to push her hair out of her eyes, but resist it on account of not wanting to be a creep.

"Where are we?" Nico's voice snaps my attention away. I look up to see him rubbing his eye. He must have woken up when I did.

I nod toward the Long Island sign. "The vineyards, apparently. " I keep my voice low, so not to wake the others.

Nico frowns, squinting at the sign like he's having trouble reading it. Maybe he needs eyeglasses. I wonder what the protocol is for losing your reading glasses in the midst of an apocalypse. A trip to the zombie eye doctor?

I look back at Nico to see he's staring at me like he's waiting for my response on something. I must have missed his question.

He seems to sense this, and asks again, "How do we know we can trust her father?" He shoots a pointed look at Piper, who is curled up asleep in the front seat.

I turn my gaze toward her. I understand his scepticism, but for reasons I can't explain, I trust Piper. I've only known her for a short time, most of which we spent unconscious (not a stellar bonding exercise, I wouldn't recommend it), but I believe her dad is telling the truth. Besides, what else do we have to go on?

"Well what would you suggest we do, instead?" I ask Nico, pulling at my hair. I do that when I'm stressed or thinking, which is unfortunate, because it makes it look like I've been electrocuted.

Nico sighs in defeat, crossing his arms over his chest. "Yeah I guess." He looks out the window.

I look out my own window and see a sign with directions to the nearest stores. I read one that says Publix – 2 miles. My stomach growls in response. I have to agree. We hadn't eaten or drank anything since this whole thing started. I would kill for a cheeseburger. My stomach grumbles its agreement.

I turn back to Nico, to suggest a food raid. He is looking at a sign for a McDonalds with a level of intimacy that should make me want to turn away.

"Want to go hunting at a grocery store?" I smile.

He turns back to me, and I expect him to agree enthusiastically, but he just cocks an eyebrow. "That was a lame line, but yes." A small smile traces his lips, which is good enough for me.

I come around to the driver's seat, and motion for Nico to follow. Piper is sound asleep still, and I need to somehow remove her without waking her, if that's possible.

I grab her feet, and stand there for a few seconds, deciding the next best move. I do not have a lot of experience carrying people without waking them. I may have been a decent babysitter, but kids weigh significantly less than fully-grown adults.

I look over my shoulder at Nico. "Come help me move her," I whisper. I hear him move behind me.

"Okay, I've got her legs," I lift Piper's converse clad feet to show Nico. "You grab, uh, the rest of her." Nico does not seem to approve of this plan, but snakes his arms under Piper's armpits, regardless.

He nods. "I've got her," she slips a little, and Nico bends to catch her before her head hits the floor. "Mostly."

That isn't very reassuring, but I'm sure it'll be fine. I nod back, and bend my knees, trying to lift her legs onto my shoulders for better leverage. "We lift on three."

"One…" Nico bends back as Piper's arms stick out.

"Two…" One of her legs slips off my shoulders and I catch it with my free hand.

"Thr-"

"What the hell are you guys doing?" I look over Piper's head and see Annabeth in the back, awake, staring at us incredulously.

Nico, folding Piper's arm over her chest so it doesn't get caught in the door, calls over his shoulder. "Food raid."

Annabeth looks like she's too tired to argue, so she comes around the front and slips her arms around Piper's middle. "Three." She lifts up, and Nico and I follow suit. We carry Piper to the backseat. Miraculously, we don't seriously injure, or wake her up. I'm impressed.

Annabeth puts her hands on her hips. "So what is this about a food raid?"

I start to climb into the driver's seat. "We're all hungry, and there is a Publix a little ways down the road."

Annabeth sits in the back, poking her head between the driver and passenger's seats to look at me. "That's it? What's the plan?"

I frown. "What do you mean, the plan?" I look at her cock an eyebrow. "My plan was to get the food and then to eat it, but if you have other suggestions, I'm willing to hear them."

She glares at me, not amused. "I meant, what if we run into more of those things? We need a way to be safe about this. And someone needs to be watching the van." That makes an annoying amount of sense. How is she so good at all this apocalypse stuff, anyway?

"Okay," Nico says, looking around. "So should we wake the others, then?"

I look beside me to see Frank still out cold, snoring softly.

"Not yet," Annabeth says, sitting back in her seat again. "We can wake them when we get there."

I start the car, adjusting the seat to fit my taller frame. I glance in the rear-view mirror to shoot Annabeth a funny look, but find she's already watching me. She quickly turns away. Weird.

"Alright, gang." I say, even though only Nico and Annabeth are awake to hear me. "To Publix we go."

"We should have a gang name." Leo suddenly says from the back. I look up and meet his eyes in the rear-view mirror.

"Morning. And sure, what would you suggest, then?" I ask, laying the sarcasm on thickly.

Leo ignores this, and crosses his arms, sitting back. "Give it time. It'll come to me."

"Alright," I say, pulling back onto the road. "Let me know when it does."

"What about The Survivors, or something?" Hazel says, apparently awake now.

I hear Frank quietly clearing his throat beside me, having also woken up. "That's a little…um…"

"Lame." Nico says bluntly, ever the charmer. I don't near Hazel's mumbled response.

A new voice joins the fray. "…Was I carried here, or did I dream that?" I check the mirror to see Piper rubbing her head.

"Uhhh…" Nico laughs nervously.

The SUV quickly fills with chatter. Well there goes the peace and quiet. That's overrated, anyway. I smile and pull onto the exit ramp.

* * *

I've always hated grocery shopping. I would do it from time to time when mom couldn't get off work early enough to get things for supper. Today, however, I have never been more excited to do the chore.

We all sit at the tables near a rack of cold rotisserie chicken, eating. Well, eating is putting it lightly. Inhaling is a more appropriate term. To be honest, I can't remember what, exactly I've eaten so far. It's sort of a cheese-flavoured blur.

Leo sits back and tips his head up, rubbing his stomach, mimicking my current position.

I sit up a little. "Well while this has been great," I say, standing up, "we should hit the road." I eye another Twinkie. Should I…? My stomach turns over. Maybe not.

Annabeth stands as well, brushing crumbs from her pants. "Percy's right," she smirks to herself for some reason. "Lets head out."

I look over the table at the wrappers and garbage. We just took a lot of food. The world may be in chaos, but that doesn't mean we should steal, if we can help it. I pat my pockets and produce a 10-dollar bill.

I shrug, laying the money on the table before throwing out my trash. Annabeth nods, and does the same. Once everyone has chipped in, we start walking back to the car.

I fall into step next to Annabeth. She looks over to me, opening her mouth to say something, when a rustling stops her. Her eyes fill with worry. "What was that?" She whispers.

I turn in the direction of the noise, as everyone goes still. The movement seems to be coming from one of the aisles. I take out my long knife, and stalk toward it.

"Hello? Mr. Zombie?" I wave my knife around, and turn in time to see Annabeth waving her arms maniacally at me. I shrug. "Can't help to be polite."

Suddenly, the rustling stops, and an eerie silence fills the grocery store.

Piper takes a step forward, falling in line next to Annabeth and myself. A shadow moves in the aisle and we hold our breath as…

"AGHH-ahem" Leo unsuccessfully covers his scream with a cough as he sees that the shadow's owner is a big, black Labrador.

I smirk as the dog prances up to Leo and licks his hand. "Careful Valdez, I hear those things are vicious." I cross my arms, laughing.

Leo rolls his eyes and pets the dog's head. "Yeah yeah laugh it up, all of you." He looks at each of us in turn, shooting a glare at Piper, who is bent over in hysterics. "But this guy was very menacing, coming out of the shadows like that!"

I walk over to the dog, reaching to check its collar, only to find that it doesn't wear one. Annabeth is at my side again, and my shoulders relax a fraction. "No collar?", she asks.

I shake my head. "Nope. Guess we'll just have to name uhh", I lean to the side to confirm, "Her."

Annabeth does not look amused. I'm beginning to think this is her usual expression.

Hazel walks up and pets the dog. "For a dog without an owner, she's pretty well-kept." The dog nudges her face against my leg, and I ruffle the fur on her head.

Annabeth nods. "Yeah. Well, we should get going." I stare after her, raising my eyebrows.

"She's coming with us." Annabeth turns around, like she was bracing for this argument.

"Percy…"

I shake my head. "Nope. All in favour of keeping the dog?" Everyone raises their hand, including Nico, which I find surprising. I give Annabeth my best smile. "Well that settles it."

Annabeth purses her lips, and then sighs. "Fine. We can keep the dog."

My smile grows wider. "Why thank you, for your consideration. In tribute of your great sacrifice, I give you the honour of naming her." We all look at Annabeth expectantly. "And if you suggest 'Spot', I'm taking that honour away."

Annabeth tilts her head, thinking. Her curls fall off her shoulder and further down her back. This distracts me more than I would like to admit. "How about Mrs. O'Leary?"

I'm surprised by her seemingly random selection, but I'll take it. I give her a toothy grin. "Mrs. O'Leary, it is!" I rub the dog's ears. "Do you like that?" Her tail wags. "I'll take that as a yes. C'mon girl, let's get out of here."

We pile into the car again; Piper at the wheel, myself and Mrs. O'Leary in the passenger's seat, and everyone else in the back. A full 2 minutes pass before Frank speaks from behind me. "We have no idea where we're going now, do we?"

This is very true. Fortunately, I have a new dog to distract me from our probable impending doom.

Piper twists her mouth to the side, hunching her shoulders nearly up to her ears. This isn't her fault. No one knows what's going on.

I clear my throat. "Uh, well, we're in Long Island. Which is where Piper's dad told us to go. So maybe if we keep driving, we'll come across it?" Excellent plan. Very motivational. Luckily Annabeth interrupts my speech.

"We need to look for other people, ask around about this Chiron guy. He must be relatively easy to find if Piper's father only gave us 'Long Island' to go off of." I nod along to her plan.

"Exactly. This shouldn't be too hard." Even I don't believe my own words. We still have to worry about the monsters and zombies. I tap the knife still cased and hung on my belt.

Piper looks miserable, but she presses her foot on the gas, and begins to exit the parking lot. We turn left onto the road, and then Mrs. O'Leary starts to bark like crazy.

"Woah, woah, whoa!" I pat her head, trying to calm her down, as her barking grows more frantic. "What's wrong, girl?"

Piper stops suddenly, and I look out the window to see a dead deer blocking most of the road. Piper makes a U-turn, continuing back towards the grocery store. Thankfully, Mrs. O'Leary stops barking.

I hear Hazel and Annabeth discuss something from the back row, and then Annabeth pops her head between my seat and Piper's. "Turn into the grocery store parking lot again." She directs this at Piper.

"Why?" Piper asks, looking over her shoulder.

"I'm testing something."

"Alright…" Piper turns back into the entrance of the store, and Mrs. O'Leary starts to bark again.

Annabeth smiles, and turns to Hazel. "I think you were right."

"Right about what?" I yell, trying to be heard over the dog's persistent barking.

Piper begins to pull out of the lot again, turning right this time. Mrs. O'Leary grows silent.

"Mrs. O'Leary. I think she can sense the right way to go." Annabeth says excitedly.

I give her an incredulous look. "Maybe you should rest a bit longer. You're acting a little loopy."

She huffs. "You saw what happened. Do you have a better idea?"

Unfortunately, I do not. I look over my shoulder. "Alright gang. Next stop: Chiron. And it looks like we'll be using Mrs. O'Leary here as our psychic guide." Annabeth smacks my shoulder, and I grin even wider. "Never a dull moment."

Mrs. O'Leary guides us for another 10 minutes or so, using her assumed barking powers to lead the way. Unless she is just barking because she picked up the scent of another dog's urine and we're driving in circles. Time will tell.

Nico groans from the backseat, during a silent spell. "This is absolutely ridiculous. You do realize that, right?"

"Yes," I say drily. "We're all aware we're using a stray dog as a GPS. I'm not happy about it, but you have to admit, the barking trumps the robotic lady's voice, any day."

"I have mine set to the British guy," Piper says.

I raise my eyebrows. "Oh, I didn't realize you could change it."

"Actually, I do too," Leo responds. "The British man's voice is more soothing."

"Good to know." I say.

Mrs. O'Leary starts barking again and I glance out the windshield. We haven't turned recently. Piper stops the car, and Mrs. O'Leary quiets.

"Great." Nico says. "What now?"

Annabeth frowns. "Try driving forward, again?"

Piper inches the vehicle forwards a foot, and Mrs. O'Leary starts to bark.

"Backwards?" Annabeth suggests.

Piper repeats the motion, but in reverse. Mrs. O'Leary continues to bark.

"And stop?"

Mrs. O'Leary stops barking.

"Everyone, get out." Annabeth says, opening the side door. "I think we're here."

I stare out the window and see trees on my right and an open field on my right. Piper and I share a look.

"Uh, Annabeth? I don't know if this is right."

Annabeth meets my gaze, half out of the car. Her eyes, lined with dark circles, are filled with worry and a manic determination. "But it has to be. You heard Mrs. O'Leary." She continues to get out of the car, and heads for the field.

I swallow. Blind faith only goes so far, and I can't exactly put all that trust in a dog I found at a supermarket. But I can put it in Annabeth. She hasn't led us wrong, yet. I lift Mrs. O'Leary off my lap and get out of the car, following Annabeth into the grass. I ignore the protests of the others.

I have to run and catch up to her; she's gained quite a distance.

"Annabeth!" I call, running over to where she trudges through the high grass. She startles, and stops when she sees me.

I try and catch my breath, putting my hands on my knees. You would think for a guy who is captain of the swim team, I would be a little more athletically inclined.

I look up at Annabeth, who has turned to face me. She looks over my shoulder, where the others have gotten out of the car, looking hesitantly at the field. "Why did you come? There's obviously nothing here." She clenches her jaw, and crosses her arms over her chest.

I smile. "Well it looked like you knew where you were going."

She shakes her head and laughs, but there is no humour in it. "No. I don't know what I'm doing. None of us do. This is just so messed up. All of it." Her voice grows more hysterical with every word.

She shakes her head again, like she can't believe she's falling apart in front of me. I can't either.

I approach her like I would a timid animal. She's not crying-I don't think she's really the crying type-but I'm still not very good in these kinds of situations. "Hey, I know. I'm not going to say it'll be fine, because I don't know if it will. But I'm here. That's all I can say. We're in this thing together, whatever it is. All of us." I take another step toward her, my arms outstretched. "I'm not going anywhere."

She looks up at me again, a faint blush on her cheeks. Whether that's from getting so worked up, or something else entirely, I don't know. "You still didn't answer my question."

"Why I followed you?" She nods. I run a hand through my hair. "Because despite not knowing you well yet, I trust your judgement." I offer her a smile.

"Even when it's out of whack?" She gestures to the empty field.

I smile, my best lopsided, troublemaker grin. "Especially then."

She smiles genuinely now, dipping her head into her chest. When she looks up again, she groans, and nods over my shoulder. I turn around to see the rest of our friends walking over to us, Mrs. O'Leary leading the way.

Leo calls from about 5 feet away, near a small pond I hadn't noticed before. "Didn't want to miss the field party." They all catch us to us, and look around.

"Well, you didn't miss much," I say, sneaking a glance at Annabeth who now looks completely composed.

Before I can say anything else, an ear-splitting roar echoes across the field. I startle, looking around. "What the hell?" Images of the flying bat lady at the airport flood my brain, and I instinctively pull out my knife, checking the sky for ill-tempered old ladies.

"Wh-what is that?" Piper shrieks, her knife in one hand. She backs up into Frank, who has also drawn his crossbow.

I follow her line of sight and see…well I'm not quite sure what I'm looking at, but it sure is ugly. The beast is tall and humanoid, but covered in fur, like a lion. A giant scorpion tail protrudes from its backside.

Annabeth, in shock, mumbles, "manticore…?"

I decide to ask what that is later, and focus on present company. The beast stalks toward us, taking its time. This annoys me. "Hey, ugly!" I wave my knife around, as if that will do anything, and fall back into what I hope is a convincing fight stance. Judging from the look on Nico's face, I'm going to guess it's not.

The monster roars again, which, honestly, is a little showy. You don't see me screaming my head off.

"Demigods." The beast says. This is now just getting trippy. The monster's tail whips menacingly back and forth as it approaches us. I glance at the car. It's too far away. We won't make it.

Annabeth must think of this a second before me, because she stands up straighter, and tightens her grip on her knife, getting ready for a fight.

"What do you want?" Leo calls.

The monster laughs; a horrible, gurgling sound. Then, its tail whips out at me. I don't think, I lunge out of the way, just in time. The tip of the tail, which I assume is venomous, misses me by mere inches.

The monster lets out a frustrating growl and tries to hit Annabeth. This time, she is ready, and tries to jab her knife into its tail, but misses. I glance at the others, and we all seem to come to an understanding.

Piper and I fall back, as Annabeth and Leo distract it from the front. Frank's arrows hit their mark any time that tail waves too close. Nico and Hazel wait on either side, in case the monster veers off course.

I stalk after it for a few feet, waiting for a good opportunity. Then, I run and jam my knife into its back. Piper does the same, and the monster howls in agony.

It turns around, aiming its stinger at me, but Annabeth lands another blow in its shoulder, distracting it enough for me to roll out of the way.

I stab it again as Annabeth and Leo have it distracted, but the monster doesn't seem to be slowing down at all. I'm confused. All it took to defeat the last monster was a single taser. I try to signal this to Annabeth, but she is out of my line of sight.

Before I can call out to her, Mrs. O'Leary begins to grow. I back up, thinking of that monster from the airport again, as our new stray transforms into a huge, terrifying version of itself. I watch in awe as she disappears, then appears again, directly next to the other monster.

I stand guard, my knife ready to defend Mrs. O'Leary (what can I say, I'm a sentimental toward animals. Weird demon-y side and all), but she doesn't seem to need any help.

Mrs. O'Leary sinks her fangs into the beast, and it yowls, as my new pet rips the head from its neck. Not something you want to watch before dinner, trust me.

The lion-thing shoots its limbs out in all directions as it falls. I must be too close, because a suddenly sharp pain slices across my stomach. I glance down, and see a deep line of red etched into my abdomen.

Just like the bat lady, the lion man disintegrates into who knows what, and disappears. Mrs. O'Leary lies down on the grass, panting, and puts her head on her humongous paws.

I can't stand anymore-everything is spinning. I drop my knife and fall to the grass, blood seeping out between my fingers.

"Percy!" I hear Annabeth screeching in the distance. Or at least, I think its Annabeth. It seems so far away, I can't tell. I close my eyes.

I'm finding it difficult to breathe. I feel hands around my shoulders, but I mostly focus on trying to breathing. In. Out. Ouch. In. Out. I need a bandage.

I'm too weak to be pressing both hands on my wound, so I let one fall onto the grass. It touches something wet, probably my blood.

I try to breathe again, and amazingly, I find it easier. Each breath comes with more ease now, and I find myself able to sit up. I open my eyes, and see I am half lying in the pond.

"What?" Annabeth has cut open my shirt where the monster got me, and everyone is gathered around, staring at my stomach in astonishment.

I look down, and see that my wound is completely healed. There is still blood all over me, but Annabeth has washed it away at the cut, and revealed that my stomach is fine.

"I don't understand." I say, which is a pretty obvious statement but c'mon. I almost bled to death. I think.

"You will," a new voice joins us and I look up. A man in his mid thirties, in a wheelchair, sits behind Piper. I shake my head, bewildered. How and when did he get here?!

"Who are you?" Annabeth snaps, covering my body protectively with hers.

"My name is Chiron. I'm not going to hurt you." Chiron? Did I hear that correctly?

I look over his head and see a sign that definitely was not there before. I must be seeing things. The worn letters and my dyslexia make it hard to read, but I think the first word is "camp".

Chiron holds his hand out to me, as the others look at him, speechless. I take it, and he pulls me to my feet.

"It's nice to meet you all," Chiron The Mysterious says. "Welcome to Camp Half Blood."

 **Thanks for stopping by!**


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